With Spotify releasing their ‘Spotify Wrapped’ for the year, I thought this article would be perfect to get more acquainted with music and why it’s so important for our daily lives. It’s a fact that everyone listens to music, but recent articles are saying the more music you listen to, the more beneficial it is for your brain.
Music has so many different varieties, also known as genres, and music taste is unique for every single person. Why and how are these connected? Well, according to the article “A musicologist explains the science behind your taste in music,” “A lot of it has to do with where you grew up and what kind of musical influences are in the air, but we participate in so many subcultures of affinity, just based on what we like. Intercultures provide us with access to music just because you’re a part of a group, and that group means something to you.”
But it goes even further than that. Research has found that if one listens to more instrumental music, they are bound to have a higher IQ than others. Whether or not you believe IQ relates to intelligence, this links to the idea that listening to music is a workout for your brain in some sense. For example, it has been found that learning to play an instrument has improved attention span, memory, and even someone’s mood throughout the day. This is why listening to sad music when you’re sad makes you feel worse, and vice versa.
Music has also changed drastically throughout the years, and so have the listeners. Studies have found that younger generations listen to more music than older ones, but why? It’s no surprise to any of us that younger generations are more open about their mental health, so we can put together the connection between mental health and listening to music. This takes us back to the idea that listening to upbeat music can make you feel better, or less stressed about situations. Research has found that “listening to a slower tempo can quiet your mind and relax your muscles, making you feel soothed while releasing the stress of the day.” This is why younger generations automatically turn to music to make them feel better about the amount of stress they receive, like the stress from school and being a teenager in general.
This proves that there’s no wonder why the younger generations turn to music, so much so that younger generations listen to 75.1% more music daily than older generations. In fact, as I’m writing this article, I’m listening to music with my noise-canceling headphones on because it helps me focus. Even later when I’m reading I’ll be listening to music, which might seem a bit counterintuitive but still, you get the point. Music has even been proven to help focus when studying, which goes back to the fact that listening to classical music is the most beneficial for your brain. Though listening to music with lyrics is still good for you, the words can become distracting when you are trying to concentrate, which is why classical music is the way to go.
As you can see, listening to music has many benefits which can help with stress, focus, memory, and even intelligence. Listening to music has many benefits for your brain and your mental health, so take a break and go listen to some of your favorite artists, and let it calm your brain.