Relaxing Music: I strive to find something that makes me feel as good as throwing on a fantastic playlist after a long workday. It's been a stressful day, and I'm seeking to use music for relaxation from my tension.What should I put on? Some gorgeous piano music, nature noises, or emotional Adele songs? Does it even matter what sort of music I play.The power of music can take hold of you and your emotions swiftly. But does music genuinely reduce stress? That's what we're going to learn today. We'll explore the benefits of music for our mental health and reducing tension. Plus, we'll teach you what sorts of music you should be adding to your playlist to help you decompress.
When is the Best Time to Listen to Relaxing Music?
How can music assist you with stress?
Can music therapy reduce stress and anxiety? Research has shown that music helps with stress management because it decreases physiological arousal, which we experience while agitated.Regardless of whether we’re experiencing acute or chronic tension, the power of music enhances our mental health. It helps reduce stress hormones that flood our minds, like cortisol, and helps our bodies transition back to more of a state of relaxation rather than being on alert.
Read also: Pedro Pascal: A Journey Through His Movies And TV Shows
Here are some other benefits of using music to cope with stress:
- It lowers down our heart rate and blood pressure
- Our muscles relax, relieving tension
- Lyrics give us something to concentrate on It provides a source of motivation for us
- Songs can be relatable and help us feel connected It can help us regulate our emotions
How to meditate with music ?
Music can do miracles for different types of tension. Meditation is a well-known stress management technique that makes us reflect on ourselves to give more attention to external factors. It helps with our self-awareness and how we problem-solve challenges that get in our way, like tension, for instance.Because meditation is all about focusing our energy and attention on one specific thought, it helps draw our focus away from negative thoughts. It allows us to immerse ourselves in tranquil music and shut out other distractions. Some tunes even have patterns that help keep our focus consistent.Adding in some audio can be a wonderful addition to your workflow. Music has been proven to improve mental acuity and reduce anxiety. The vibrations from music travel into our ear canals, impinge on our eardrums, and turn into electrical signals. Then, they make their way past the auditory nerve and into the brain stem.Once these vibrations are in our nervous system, they impact various areas of the brain. For example, the hippocampus, which is responsible for retrieving memories and our emotional regulation, actually produces more neurons and enhances memory abilities when it interprets music.
It can be a little intimidating to incorporate music into the equation if you’re new to meditating. Worry not, because we have some suggestions to share to assist you with choosing your meditation music:
- Choose relaxing tunes with a slower, more steady cadence
- Pick recordings with lyrics if you need them to direct your thoughts
- Use headphones to help block out other sounds or distractions, or opt for background music to limit distractions
- Make your playlist ahead of time to prevent pauses in tracks
- Choose songs that complement the specific duration of time for your meditation
- Search meditation playlists for instrumental music, classical music, or nature sounds
- Be open-minded to new tunes to alter things up
- What form of music should you listen to relax?
No singular genre is the most soothing music or benefits every individual. Which genre works best varies from person to person, but that's part of the enjoyment. We can take time to investigate what's soothing music for us to help discover relaxation music for stress relief and healing. We might startle ourselves and discover that yoga music replaces country as our favored new genre.The American Music Therapy Association asserts that all styles of music have the potential to generate effective change in a patient's life. What you enjoy about country music might differ from a yoga soundtrack — but both benefit you differently. And you might not like rock and roll, but it might be your partner’s favorite.
Music and positive affirmations
Sometimes, our inner critic works against us when we’re coping with tension. We begin to fret, and our minds fill with negative thoughts while our confidence plummets. But positive affirmations can uplift, motivate, and inspire us to develop our confidence and be courageous. And where else can we find positive affirmations? Music.Listening to music with positive lyrics and cheerful tempos does more than manage our tension. It creates an environment where we cultivate a more optimistic, growth mindset.Positive affirmations can help us unwind and sleep when we're feeling anxious, or they can rev up our engines to make a plan of action. We can feel inspired to confront our challenges and feel empowered to create change for ourselves. For people who feel alone or don't have many people to rely on, tunes with positive affirmations can be the voice they need to hear. It can even provide the positive energy we need when our loved ones simply aren’t around to assist.Plus, lyrics with positive affirmations can place us in such a confident, happy mood that we inspire others. It's contagious, and it can all start with what songs we play.
Read also: Katastros Final Album Is a Bittersweet Tribute to Their Singer
How to use music to enhance your well-being
We've discussed how music can help us reduce and track our tension. But how and when can we genuinely use music? Where should we listen to music, and who can we share it with? Here are four methods we can use music to enhance our well-being:
1. Create rhythms and sounds
We don't have to have a musical background to make up rhythms. We can take whatever's around us, whether it's a traditional musical instrument or something as tiny as a pen, and start tapping away. It provides us something to be creative and have joy with. (Just be mindful of your tapping to avoid distracting anyone seated nearby.)
2. Write musical lyrics
Plenty of people hesitate away from songwriting because they believe they don’t have the skill or their vocal voice isn't good enough. But who said we have to share these melodies with others? They can be private if you prefer them that way. And if we're stuck, we can write new lyrics to songs we already know to construct our own rendition.
3. Create playlists for your activities
Music blends in with a number of our activities. It can help set the atmosphere for whatever we're doing and motivate to accomplish tasks. Different music can match your mood when exercising, preparing, or pounding out a project.You can even use them as a countdown: pledge yourself that you’ll clean your apartment until the end of a certain playlist or album, and then you can sit back and watch TV.Many streaming platforms and music subscriptions like Spotify or Apple Music offer curated arrangements of many genres and emotions. Experimenting with preset playlists will help you determine what to include in your own.
4. Listen to music with companions
It's enjoyable to share the enthusiasm that music brings with others. Listening to music with friends can help us develop positive memories, bond, and uplift us. Attending local concerts with your friends means an evening out that revolves around a band you all like, which makes for excellent camaraderie.It's also enjoyable to share new music with others and investigate new genres. Consider creating a group chat with your peers or colleagues where you can share tracks that you like to share the happy feelings.
What is the disadvantage of using music as a mood booster?
While music can uplift us with positive energy and aid tension reduction, it can also do the opposite. That's why we have to be aware of the potency of music. Certain varieties of music can truly worsen our mood.One study found that 17% of participants said their mood had deteriorated even more than before because they listened to melancholy music. If we're already feeling anxious or in despair, listening to sad music that exudes and encourages those same emotions doesn't always help us.Sad music can inspire more thought into our complex emotions, make us feel nostalgic, and fill us with wonder and inquiry. You might discover that sad tracks help you process negative emotions — but we should avoid that when we're already feeling depressed and negative. We need to be cognizant of our emotions In the future, as we curate our selections, we should reflect on our levels of tension. If we could use some positive energy, choose something cheerful and jubilant. If we're in the mood to be nostalgic or ponder profoundly about lyrics, then sad music is OK. It's all about finding balance and knowing what we need in the present.
Level up: How to use music to relieve work tension
It should be no revelation that workplace stress is a significant problem for many individuals. One Gallup report found that Americans encountered the most amount of workplace tension worldwide. Our work environments play a large part in where our stress originates from, so moving forward, let's direct our new learnings of music relaxation for stress toward that.We know that there's no one singular genre of music that provides everyone with relaxing melodies. It's up to our preferences. We also know that music that spews positive energy can impact our mindset and confidence while listening to melancholy music while we're already depressed only makes matters worse.
Here's a list of guidelines that you can follow to help manage stress at work with the aid of music:
- Create a playlist with music that's motivational and inspirational for your commute
- Before and after work, make time for meditation with soothing music
- Set yourself reminders for new song releases to look forward to
- Focus on lyrics that make you feel connected and at ease
- Bring headphones to work to filter out other sounds while you listen to music
Facing workplace tension isn't something you have to do alone. BetterUp can help you develop other strategies to manage your workplace tension to take care of your mental health and keep you dancing at your workstation.