Music As Therapy – You Best Free Daily Tool

If you like music and you’ve been listening to it for some time, then you might have noticed that sometimes it have a pretty clear effect on you. A positive effect. That’s because music is indeed capable of effecting us and how we feel. There were multiple studies and researches that found evidence of that.

Music can be a powerful and effective therapeutic tool used to improve your psychical, emotional, mental and cognitive well-being. And you can use it every day, any time – for free.

So how do you get the best of this awesome tool? Can you apply these positive effects yourself? Do you have to have a scholar degree to benefit from music? Of course not, everyone can use music to improve their everyday well being.

Not only you can have this great therapeutic outcome by simply listening to music yourself, but you can also do it for free, do it any time you want. You can experiment with it, have fun and see what works best for you. There’s literally no downside. You just have to start.

What is Music Therapy?

Music therapy is a practice of using music to improve a person’s mental, emotional, and physical health. It involves listening to music, playing instruments, singing, or even composing music. All that can reduce stress, improve mood, and enhance overall well-being.

If you are a music fan, I’m sure you have noticed that music has an effect on you. Some tracks make you more energetic, you start feeling more active. For example during the workouts certain music can pump you up, give additional charge so to speak.

While other music can make you feel calm, more introspective. It can put you in a thoughtful state. It all depends on what you listen, in what state you are at that time.

There are even therapy sessions guided by trained therapists. These are professionals who typically have a bachelor’s degree in music therapy. Certification is provided by organizations like the Certification Board for Music Therapists (CBMT) in the United States.

But thankfully, you can try and practice it yourself as well. You don’t need to have any degrees to enjoy music and experience its amazing effects.

What Music Can Help You With

So what exactly can music do for you? Well, a bunch of things really. Starting from a mere enjoyment and having a good time, there’s a whole range of potential positive effects. They include:

1. Improve Cognitive Performance: Music, especially classical, can enhance cognitive tasks like memory and problem-solving (Ref*)​.
2. Reduce Stress and Anxiety: Music listening can lower cortisol levels and alleviate anxiety​ (Ref*)​.
3. Help You Eat Less: Soft background music can help reduce food intake by creating a relaxing eating environment​(Ref*).
4. Improve Memory: Music can enhance memory recall, particularly in individuals with memory impairments​ (Ref*)​.
5. Manage Pain: Music therapy can reduce the perception of pain and the need for pain medication ​(Ref*).
6. Help You Sleep Better: Listening to relaxing music before bedtime can improve sleep quality​ (Ref*)
7. Improve Motivation: Upbeat music can enhance motivation, especially during physical activities​ (Ref*)​.
8. Improve Mood: Music can uplift mood and increase happiness by triggering the release of dopamine​ (Ref*)​.
9. Reduce Symptoms of Depression: Music therapy can help alleviate symptoms of depression and improve emotional well-being (Ref*)​.
10. Improve Endurance and Performance: Listening to music during exercise can improve physical endurance and performance (Ref*)​.
11. Regulate Emotions: Music can help in processing and regulating emotions​ (Ref*)​.
12. Promote Relaxation: Music with a slow tempo can induce relaxation and reduce stress​ (Ref*).
13. Improve Communication Skills: Music therapy can aid in the development of communication skills, especially in individuals with speech impairments​ (Ref*)​.
14. Promote Social Interaction: Group music activities can enhance social skills and encourage social bonding​ (Ref*)​.
15. Boost Self-Confidence: Engaging in music activities can improve self-esteem and confidence​ (Ref*).
16. Enhance Immune System Function: Listening to music can boost the immune system by increasing antibody production​ (Ref*)​.
17. Improve Physical Rehabilitation: Music therapy can assist in physical rehabilitation, enhancing movement and coordination​ (Ref*).
18. Increase Focus and Attention: Certain types of music can improve concentration and attention in tasks​ (Ref*)​.
19. Enhance Creativity: Music can stimulate creative thinking and problem-solving​ (Ref*)​.
20. Facilitate Meditation and Mindfulness: Music aids in meditation, promoting relaxation and awareness​ (Ref*).
21. Improve Heart Health: Slow-tempo music can reduce heart rate and blood pressure​ (Ref*)​.
22. Aid in Autism Therapy: Music therapy helps improve social skills and communication in individuals with autism​ (Ref*).
23. Promote Neuroplasticity: Engaging with music can enhance the brain’s ability to form new neural connections, beneficial for stroke recovery​ (Ref 1*, Ref 2*)​.

As you can see it’s an extensive list of proven positive effects, supported by studies and researches. You get a lot of spheres where there’s possible practical application. And you don’t have to go far to do it. You can exercise this on your own.

How You Can Apply It Yourself

While most therapeutic procedures in general are done by professionals, usually in specialized facilities like hospitals, clinics, med centers, etc., music is readily available for everyone, any time. This is the most amazing part about it. It is free and you can enjoy it as you wish – whenever you want, and however you want. You can do it in the comfort of your home, in a car, at the office, on the walk.

Sure, if you want something very specific, you might want to ask professional advice. But nothing stops you from starting to explore these benefiting right away.

All you need to do is to start incorporating more music listening into you everyday activities. Just notice which music works best for you and enjoy the effects.

Let’s look at a couple everyday activities as good example how you can easily do it.

Music & Work

Most of us have to work, right? So for example if your job involves working on a computer, just start having some music on the background. Find playlists with decent playtime (I suggest at least 1-hour long ones), and have them going on while you do your work. Pay attention to how you feel with certain music on the background.

Depending on the specifics of the things you do, you might want to experiment with different types and music genres. Check out some of my playlists HERE.

I can speak from my own experience here. If I do some work that involves complex calculations, or hard thinking and high attention to details, I prefer subtle music without lyrics. For example light tracks of electro genre. Music of this style helps me keep the concentration up and retain my focus on the task at hand. I don’t get distracted by lyrics and the songs’ tempo makes it easier to keep the work flow nice and even.

On the other hand when I am doing something mundane, something that’s boring or uncreative and uninspired, music of higher emotional substance helps me much better. It reduces stockpiling stress and tiredness of such “meh” activities. For example Rock music (plenty of styles and subgenres to choose with) works quite well.

Music & Sports

Same works for sports. Pick a playlist or a genre, or an album by artists you like and listen to that music while you’re doing your exercises. You will soon notice that different music may work better depending on what you are doing. For jogging you might prefer one style, while for heavy weights workout something completely different is more suitable.

I often notice that many people in the gym like heavier music like metal for high-intense workouts. And something up tempo like techno for continuous and monotone training (i.e. running, bike).

Nothing stops you from doing it as well. Give it a try and see if music adds a boost to your energy levels.

Music & Emotional Relief

Another way you can easily use music in everyday life is for dealing with emotions in everyday life. We all go through some tough periods, when we feel down, we are tired or sad, or depressed. And listening to music can be a great way of releasing some these emotions. It’s a nice practical way to help you process these emotions and deal with them without overthinking.

If you’re wondering how emotional music can help you, check this article – Best Music to Listen When You Are Sad

Music can act like a medium through which we are able to channel our feelings. Either by actively paying attention to what we are listening, or by having it on the background. Music can help you switch your focus, direct your thoughts a different way. Which is sometimes just super helpful.

Try it yourself. Experiment with various music genres, see what helps you and in what cases.

Music & Sleep

There are various theories about what conditions are best for a quality sleep and rest. Some suggest that complete silence is the best. Some point out that certain sounds or vibrations have a very positive effect. One thing for sure is that enough sleep is essential for normal body function. And if you can’t get it, health issues could follow.

A common problem many face is that they can’t fall asleep fast enough. In worst case scenarios this can even turn into insomnia or sleep deprivation. Well, once again music has been observed to have a positive impact on sleep patterns. Many note that listening to relaxing tunes before bed help them fall asleep.

For some it may be a complex of sounds, not necessarily typical musical compositions. For example a recording of a real forest or an ocean with added light melodic sounds. This is a popular trick people use to relax faster and fall asleep easier.

Different Music Genres

Researches and tests often focus on the type of music that is being used to achieve specific results. That is because different music influence our mental and physical state in different ways.

Thankfully music has plenty of genres, styles, sub-categories, niches and flavors. You have a huge diverse collections of songs to choose from. I have a Main Music Genres and Sub-genres Guide for you, feel free to check it out.

You just need to start experimenting with various songs, artists, genres. If you ever feel like you don’t have music that you like much, here’s a guide on Best & Easiest Ways to Discover New Music. Use it to find new music easily.

With time you will learn to understand how your body and mind reacts to music. And you will be able to use this extraordinary free instrument to your advantage. It’s not a coincidence that it has such a profound effect on us. After all this is one of the very first inventions humankind made (music/rhythmic sounds are believed to originate 300,000 to 50,000 years ago).

Conclusion

Music is available to us everyday. We can enjoy it almost any time we want. It is a powerful tool that has been proven to effect our mental, physical, emotional and cognitive state. Yet we are not using it to its full potential.

It’s time to change that. There’s literally no downside to listening to music in most situations. At the very least you will enjoy your time more. And multiple studies show that there’s great positive upside to it.