Music and sound are universal methods to relax or find peace. They can be used in all sorts of ways, from podcasts, to songs, to the lo-fi beat music, and to white noise. Music and sound can be therapeutic, as they can modify our psychology and biochemistry, as The Guardian details:
Listen beautiful relax classics on our Youtube channel.
“Music and sound have the ability to modify our psychology and biochemistry, influence our brainwaves and even synchronise and change physiology such as heart rate [and] breathing,” says sound therapy practitioner Nate Martinez. He works closely with sound and music to promote healing, relaxation and balance in his clients, and believes audio is “intrinsic to our human experience”.
Jennifer Buchanan, music therapist and founder of JB Music Therapy, compares music’s uplifting qualities to those of sex and food. “Humans crave pleasure from listening to music, and the positive feelings they associate with music are inextricably linked to their deepest reward centres,” she says.
And the positive effects run even deeper than dopamine.
“Groundbreaking research found that music creates pleasurable emotions that light up the mesolimbic pathway, the reward centre of the brain that gives us uplifting feelings,” says Buchanan, adding that music has also been proven to produce responses from the amygdala – the part of the brain that modulates our emotional networks. It has the capacity to trigger emotions and even reframe our mindset.
Music-based therapies and treatments, such as sound baths and meditation, have increased in popularity in recent years as people turn to the practice to try to achieve a more relaxed state. But if you’re stuck at home or otherwise unable to access a range of music therapies, how can you achieve the same outcome?
image via The Guardian
Source: neatorama