5 Ways Music Can Improve Your Health and Wellbeing
Music is a great resource for any man who wants to keep up their physical and mental health. This applies for both musicians and audiophiles alike. Even picking the right workout playlist has its benefits for your energy and wellness. So, if you’re looking for different methods to pinpoint and tackle the issues that might plague your health journey, the answer lies in the various ways you can apply the positive effects of music to your daily routine.
It can help with sleeping problems
Lack of sleep is not only uncomfortable throughout the night and unsatisfying in the morning, but it can have tons of problematic effects on your body. The less regulated your sleep schedule is, the more it takes a toll on you. Chronic sleep disorders and deprivation can put you at a higher risk of diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, depression, and even a lower sex drive. It’s even one of the biggest factors that negatively affects your appearance.
Thankfully, listening to the right music can help you sleep better. It’s not just for babies, as music affects the autonomic nervous system in a way that naturally relaxes your body and guides it into a state of rest. After doing some night stretches, turn down the lights and put on some relaxing tunes. Although musical preference varies, studies on combatting insomnia have proven that listening to songs with a rhythm of 60 beats per minute is the most effective in putting you to bed.
It enhances memory and focus
One of the reasons people tend to listen to music when studying or exercising is because it actually boosts your mood and mental focus. With improved focus, you can execute your tasks more efficiently and have more drive to finish any objectives or challenges.
On top of that, there is a lot of benefit in actually playing music yourself. Studies have shown that men tend to have worse memory retention, especially as they start to age. This is why you want to boost your cognitive function, no matter what age you decide to start at. A hobby, in general, can already be a good way to keep your spirits up anyway. Just listening to music improves memory already, but performing activates the part of your brain that’s in charge of memory. Consistently practicing also develops discipline and retention.
There’s a common misconception that learning a new instrument should be done while you’re still in your childhood or adolescence, but if you’re looking for the best musical instruments to take up, there’s a wide selection of beginner pieces you can find online. You can get a starter guitar, an acoustic drum set, or even a portable harmonica from trusted brands like Fender and Yamaha. Whatever floats your boat will work, and all it takes from there is the commitment to continue learning at a pace you’re comfortable with.
Playing music improves coordination and senses
It’s no surprise that playing music improves your muscle coordination simply because it takes a lot of hand-eye coordination to successfully accomplish. The more training you have with instruments, the better your brain can develop its ability to respond to these actions. Even in your older years, your brain retains more of that functionality if you’ve practiced music for an extensive amount of time.
Both listening and playing music also sharpens your senses. Listening to different genres of music stimulates your mood and your senses in a reactive way. On the flipside, playing music affects how your nervous system affects your hearing and touch. Your sensory processing and response to stimuli can be greatly improved with musical training.
The right music can combat anxiety and other negative emotions
Just as helpful as music can be for improving your body’s physical responsiveness, it can also be a crucial tool for regulating your mood and keeping your mental wellness up. Countless trials have proven that music is a great way to reduce anxiety, depression, and other negative feelings like insecurity and boredom. Positive music genuinely brings out serotonin and other happy triggers in your brain, which is why lots of experts even stand by music as a form of therapy.
And if you want to take it a step further than blasting out an energetic playlist on your speakers, you can just play a tune on the guitar yourself. Listening or playing a musical instrument is considered a form of therapy, which can decrease agitation, improve emotional release, form better communication skills, and heighten connections with others. All of these elements are crucial for keeping up your mental wellbeing, so a quick jam session can have its benefits in your routine.
It can regulate your appetite
Since we’ve already established that listening to music and playing it can affect your brain chemistry in a significant way, it may interest you to note that it can even regulate your appetite. Because specific songs, beats, and rhythms target your neurotransmitters, it then trickles over to your mood functions that often get connected to how much you eat. This is the reason restaurants are even strategic with the kind of music they play, as it influences how fast people are eating and how much they consume.
As your physiological responses determine this behavior, you may want to watch exactly what type of music you’re taking in, even if it’s just background noise. Unfamiliar background music and low tempos from an external source lead to longer meal times, and may even lead to you buying more drinks when you’ve reached your food threshold if they are available. That said, if you listen to softer, low-volume music with your headphones, there is a tendency to eat slower and less. Fast songs often go with fast food because they make you unconsciously eat faster.
If you’re trying to pack on some protein or you’re going full-force on a keto diet, there are various music apps nowadays that cater to different individual preferences and moods. You can synchronize these apps to work with any style you prefer, and it’s not limited to eating times either. You can pick and choose the app that works for your workout sessions, bedtime, or even just relaxation.
With a good beat, you can beat any issues that hamper your fitness and wellness. For other tips on having a holistic routine that improves your health, check out our guide on wellness for men of any age.
