Music and Anxiety

Your mind is the center of your being. Think of it as the central control of what you are as a person. Things like your hobby, skills, and interests start from your thoughts. So does anxiety. The thing is, mental instability is quite rampant these days. One cause for this is the pressure each of us faces each day.

One way to give your mind a break is through listening to good music. Your mind is composed of a series of neuron connections. And these connections can be disrupted fairly easily. Your Work, your health, your family, your children. It can come all at once and it can give a hard time. But music and anxiety may just that harmony that you need. Music is comparable to a massage on your back after a long day. It can release all that tension you experienced after a hectic day that could otherwise put pressure on your mind.

. Too often though this is neglected by many people. Gone are days where people simply love listening to a radio, keeping them in good company for a time. Today, however, things have changed. And these changes have affected the way people look at life in general.

Modern lifestyle offers a way to get around daily obstacles. Among the innovations that spurred a lot of change is in the area communications. Smartphones have been a staple choice for this these days. And with further improvements in wireless technology, the global populace was able to share information a lot faster.

This paved an easier way on how people share things. It also affected the way we communicate. Before, phones were the staple choice, hearing that voice from the other side is enough. And if you want to see that person, you need to travel for miles to get it. Today it's all possible through a small screen. But unfortunately, this also changed the way people perceive reality and life itself.

Social media came into life with our help. It's all good until it became too needy for our attention. Being glued in front of the smartphone is quite a norm these days. It’s even perceived a part of the daily routine for most people. But spending an hour scrolling endlessly do affect the way we think. It disrupts our way of living.

Technology does have its advantages. There's a lot of it and this post won't be enough to mention all of it. But as people prosper through technology, they also became a slave for it. This created virtual reality where you can experience things without having the real thing. But this also created more stress on the process. With all the things that happen around, the mind can only cope with some part of it.

Listening to good music and having a good time. This has worked for decades because it relieves the mind of stress. Music can elevate the mood to an extent that you can focus your attention to a single task or object rather than sporadically involving your thoughts with multitude of things at once, a perfect nest to breed anxiety disorder. But how does music seem to work?

The human body has this built-in familiar working phase. This has a relation to your heart rate. If you think about it, among the first sign that you’re having a panic attack is rapid heart rate. It just beats fast for no reason then your mind goes berserk thinking about failing and with all the pressure that comes with it.

Music can influence your thoughts. Indulging to the right music can make your brain just flow with greater ease. There was a study conducted by Beth Israel Medical Center's Louis Armstrong Center for Music and Medicine. They tried to help 272 premature get on with life through the help of music. It had a positive effect, it slowed down their heart rates. This means the babies were feeling relieved from their condition.

There were numerous music types involved during the study but the very successful ones were with instruments and the ones sung by the children's respective parents. The results offered a clear perspective that music affects the way the mind works.

The key here is the rhythm itself. The two instruments involved were designed to mimic the world that the baby was exposed during the early stages of their life. One was designed to emit the sound of a two-toned heart rate. The other one was designed to imitate the sound of the womb. These are the things that mean something to the baby, and they perceived it as a haven. This kept their calm thus relieving the stress they feel helping them cope up with their situation.

This shows that music can have a tremendous impact on one's emotion. If you are under stress you’ll realize that your heart rate is beyond normal. And when this happens it gives you that shot of negativities towards things that surrounds you.

This is the simple offering from music that many people have forgotten. The modern perception of reality can be blamed for this. Many people see the virtual world as the alternate world where they can have in control of things. But is this what’s happening?

Your emotions drive your day. If you start your day with a smile, the rest will be better. Starting with all the negative things, however, just create a worse version of your thoughts. It can take control of your emotions.

Familiarity has a huge impact on this. Music affects your thoughts through its rhythm. That rhythm is burned inside your mind. This somehow creates a separate pathway where you can easily control your thoughts. Those favorite music of yours comes into play in this.

But controlling your emotions can be fragile at times. Just like what your favorite music can do, a wrong choice can harm you psychologically. That tempo, the volume. These small facets affect how you perceive sad, happy and unfamiliar areas of your emotions.

Music heals past troubles or the trouble of the future. People are fond of thinking about the things that have happened yesterday or the things that could happen tomorrow. This is normal until it blows the most important thing which is the present.

Overthinking is a problem by itself. Often it just uncovers more problems rather than solving it. Having that right music can set your mood back into the present. It helps you get grounded.

Listening to your favorite music helps keep things straight inside your mind. Some people even suggest that the effect is similar to calming drugs. Now, music may never heal every ache you have. There will always be that stubborn thought that would linger all day. Still, enjoy a piece of good music. Simmer your thoughts in it. Let that flow going. Relax your mind with it. It might never be an ultimate solution for your anxiety but it will keep you at ease when you needed it.