What importance does music hold in modern day?
Have you ever noticed how music can elevate your mood? How a bunch of beats can take care of such a complex thing like human emotion? Well the answer is simple. Music has an impact on our nervous system. Humans have been using music for its therapeutic abilities in a lot of cultures and civilisations, whether it is for enjoyment, support or spiritual activities.
Music Therapy
Music therapy uses music to heal, soothe and relax. This is can be done by using various instruments like a tuning fork, handheld percussion, the guitar or a flute for example. It is a broad field. Music therapy is where the brain and music, both complex in their own ways, go hand in hand creating something that soothes us from the insides.
Something unique to this era is, in my opinion, that people have started seeing their mental health as a very important factor. In my surroundings, people stopped to brush of burnouts or long sadness as mood swings. I observed that people are more aware of their mental health. Leading cases of struggles with mental health in my circles are depression and anxiety.
Music therapy is a form of therapy where you are subjected to soft instrumental music to help relax your mind. It is said to be able to support you with depression and anxiety. According to research, listening to music for just 15 minutes a day can help increase focus, reduce stress, and improve your mood. Moreover, music therapy can improve your coordination, concentration and even help patients to let go of feelings, to ease up, and more easily communicate.
How can we use the benefits of music in our daily life?
We conducted a survey to understand if music can actually work as a short but quick mood enhancer in our busy daily schedules. In order to do so, we created a google forms. A total of 49 persons of various age groups, from teens to middle agers, responded to this fun quick round of questions.
You are welcome to fill out our survey (link) and be part of this project.
Survey results
The results were interesting. They indicate that for the respondents, music therapy is not just about sitting in an enclosed room with trained professionals. More than two-thirds of the respondents indicate having listened to music intentionally to cope with emotional or mental distress. A total of 87% answer to consider music a form of therapy and more than 90% would support music being integrated into mental health treatment programs. Below you can find the results in visual graphics.
Reflection
It brought us immense joy to be able to participate in such a wonderful experience. The Horse project has helped in working out our teamwork and management skill, as well as do something as fun as researching.
Authors
Sources
Music & selfcare: How music benefits mental health (musicinst.org)
Survey Questions (docs.google.com)
On-topic posts on dontwastemy.energy
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