11 Benefits For Your Brain On Music

Last Updated on 2015-01-28 by Kassandra

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Do you enjoy listening to music? Most people do.

Semi-recently, some of my success coaches told me that they almost never listen to music. They listen to things that will increase their success IQ, cause them to think more about their future, focus on how to achieve the life they dream about …

But for many people, this seems boring. Tedious. And unless you’re FOCUSED on success, it can be hard to stick to that regimen.

(Me included.)

Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying you should only listen to personal development or only to music … But if you’re going to listen to both, my suggestion is to listen to personal development audios in your down time and listen to music when you need to get pumped up.

Here’s why … the 11 Benefits For Your Brain on Music

“Without music, life would be a mistake” – Friedrich Nietzsche

Have you ever noticed that when you’re jamming to some of your favorite tunes different emotions may be triggered? Perhaps a memory? Kinda weird, right?

Well, although there is a ton of information out there on this, I was able to locate the following few key points from this “8 Surprising Ways Music Affects and Benefits Our Brains” Buffer blog post and the “How Playing Music Affects the Developing Brain” post via wbur (Boston’s NPR News Radio Station).

Benefit #1:  Music Affects Many Different Areas of the Brain

Benefit #2:  Happy/Sad Music Affects How We View Neutral Faces

Most people can tell when a piece of music is generally happy or sad. But did you know that it can influence your brain’s interpretation of a neutral face?

One study found that we will match the tone of the music to a facial expression … More so with a neutral one, in fact.

And since there are two kinds of emotions related to music (perceived and felt) we can understand the emotions of a song without actually feeling said emotion. This is why some people tend to enjoy sad pieces without getting depressed.

Benefit #3:  Ambient Noise Can Improve Creativity

When you’re working, do you prefer to pump up the volume and dance – dance? I know I do! I get all kinds of ridiculous at my day job and shake that groove thing … Great exercise!

But did you know that loud music may not actually be beneficial?

Apparently, moderate to low noise level is best for creativity to flow. The way it works is that with moderate noise levels, it increases processing difficulty (which promotes abstract processing) leading to higher creativity.

In lamens terms?

It causes a bit of strain on your brain to cause a bit more struggle than normal, causing your brain to get creative on its approach to resolve or process tasks.

Which is why with louder noises our creative thinking is impaired – it overwhelms our processing in such a way we become less efficient.

Benefit #4:  Our Music Choices Can Predict Our Personality

Say what?

Apparently this has only been tested so far on young adults, so not sure how scientifically based this one is. And according to this study done on couples who spent time getting to know one another, apparently their top 10 favorite songs were fairly reliable in predicting their personalities.

Here’s the break down as per the above photo:

Blues fans have high self-esteem, are creative, outgoing, gentle and at ease

Jazz fans have high self-esteem, are creative, outgoing and at ease

Classical music fans have high self-esteem, are creative, introvert and at ease

Rap fans have high self-esteem and are outgoing

Opera fans have high self-esteem, are creative and gentle

Country and western fans are hardworking and outgoing

Reggae fans have high self-esteem, are creative, not hardworking, outgoing, gentle and at ease

Dance fans are creative and outgoing but not gentle

Indie fans have low self-esteem, are creative, not hard working, and not gentle

Bollywood fans are creative and outgoing

Rock/heavy metal fans have low self-esteem, are creative, not hard-working, not outgoing, gentle, and at ease

Chart pop fans have high self-esteem, are hardworking, outgoing and gentle, but are not creative and not at ease

Soul fans have high self-esteem, are creative, outgoing, gentle, and at ease

I grew up listening to pop music (at least my generation’s definition of pop) and I’m not so sure I would say I’m the outgoing type … I consider myself to be an introverted extrovert … Or perhaps and extroverted introvert?

I guess it’s a good thing that posts like this one are out there to explain the extrovert and introvert overlaps!

Benefit #5:  Music Can Significantly Distract Us While We’re Driving

Obviously you would prefer your own music while driving, but one study done on this show that drivers made more mistakes, drove more aggressively, AND it found that unfamiliar, or uninteresting, music is best for safe driving.

I guess that explains why a lot of my success coaches say to listen to personal development while in the car! Makes sense, right?

Benefit #6:  Music Training Can Significantly Improve Our Motor and Reasoning Skills

Apparently this study found that kids who had 3+ years of musical instrument training:

—  performed better in auditory discrimination abilities and fine motor skills than those who didn’t

—  tested better on vocabulary and nonverbal reasoning skills (which involve understanding and analyzing visual information)

So why is it that the United States government is cutting back on funding for the arts? Can anyone explain this?

Probably because they want it’s citizens to be complacent and fit into boxed of their own design. (No, I’m not bitter.)

Benefit #7:  Classical Music Can Improve Visual Attention

Who can benefit from musical training or exposure?

— children

— stroke patients improved visual attention while listening to classical music as per this research

Who else do you think? We both could, most likely! 😉

Benefit #8:  Music Help Us Exercise

If you enjoy working out, you probably have a playlist of all your best jams to get you pumped and ready to roll, right?

And when you’re super tired and wore out, you play that “Eye of the Tiger” or whatever it is to get you pumped so you keep get another burst of energy?

That’s because music can drown out our brain’s cries of fatigue allowing us to push past them to work harder and get in that extra oomph! Listening to music competes with our body’s signals and vies for attention.

Our brains cannot multi-task (we’re not programmed that way, but we can shift between tasks quickly) … so this makes sense!

So not only can we push our bodies longer and harder to exercise, apparently music can help us use our energy more efficiently, as this study suggests wherein cyclists who listened to music required 7% less oxygen to do the same work as those who cycled in silence!

So based on your work-out, you may want to sync up your music basic on the type of workout you’re doing, like so:

Benefit #9:  Listening to Music Can Have Better Effects On You Than Drugs

In one study of a meta-analysis (with over 400 studies being done) they found that some patients about to undergo surgery had less stress or anxiety and lower cortisol than those who took drugs to achieve the same effect.

There is also evidence that music is associated with something called immunoglobin A (which is an antibody linked to immunity) as well as higher counts of cells that fight germs and bacteria!

Benefit #10:  Being Trained in Music Can Improve Work In School

Learning music improves the brain’s ability to process pitch, timbre, and timing. This allows for people to pick up language, as well.

Consonants and vowels become clearer, as the brain can make sense of them more quickly!

The Harmony Project in Los Angeles, a non-profit after school program that teaches music to children in low income communities, has students who have said that:

I feel like music really connects with education … It helps you concentrate more … When I do my homework or I’m studying for something and I feel overwhelmed, I usually go to my violin, to start playing it. I feel like it relaxes my mind. And coming here to play with an orchestra, it’s just amazing. I love it.

Benefit #11:  Music Is a Way For People To Connect

It’s fascinating to me when people from different walks of life (sometimes VERY different) can come together over their same tastes in music.

Have you ever made a friend simply because they liked the same music you did? Perhaps that was the only thing you had in common … am I right?

Music is something that has been around for AGES! It’s used in story telling, dance clubs, research testing, and so much more! I know I’ve provided a few benefits to listening to music, but if you’re looking for additional information on this, here are some links to other articles (including some of the ones I have already linked above):

—  8 Surprising Ways Music Affects and Benefits Our Brains via Buffer

—  How Playing Music Affects the Developing Brain via wbur

—  10 Surprising Facts About How Our Brains Work via Buffer

—  Music of the Hemispheres via NY Times

—  This Is Your Brain On Music via the Canadian Geographic

—  This Is Your Brain on Silence via Nautilus

—  This Is Your Brain on Music via CNN

—  This Is Your Brain. This Is Your Brain On Music via nprEd

 

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I hope this article helped you as much as it did for me researching it in regards to music and how it can help you in your daily life. If something has touched you or helped you gain more insight into music or into your knowledge of self, won’t you please do me the honor and comment at the bottom?

P.S:  If you can’t tell by now, I love to provide valuable content and links to things that will help you in any and every aspect of your life that you allow me to share … It’s my privilege to share this one final thought with you today.

The below photo will allow you to gain insight into information that will not only retrain your brain for success, but it will help to surround yourself with the thinking that out thinks you! And if you’ve read some of my other posts, you’ll know that in order to grow, you need to be around those people who have not only been where you want to be, but who will tell you how to avoid the mistakes along the way.

So click on the link below to check it out!