Calming Music & Your Well-Being: Does It Help?
How might calming music benefit your health?
People listen to music for many reasons. Control of emotions and increased self-awareness are important functions (1).
We have various theories about how music may bring benefits. Examples include (2):
Through physically calming the body (e.g., lowering heart rate)
By increasing social connections
Improved mental/cognitive performance
Enhancing self-esteem
We have more work to do in understanding how music brings benefits. This area is important because we can improve interventions when we understand what's going on 'under the hood'.
The effectiveness of music
Music is a promising approach to mental health and well-being. However, various shortcomings with existing studies prevent us from making firm conclusions (3).
That being said, we are fairly safe in saying there are small to moderate effects in various areas of physical and mental functioning. Regarding stress, music seems to decrease physical and psychological indicators of stress (e.g., blood pressure, self-rated stress levels) (4).
Music appears to improve other areas of functioning that influence well-being. For instance, music has positive effects on sleep (5).
What you do when listening to music may influence effectiveness. For instance, those who dwell on low mood while listening to music may lead to intensified depression (6).
Calm music
Though more research is needed to definitively say whether or not listening to calm music benefits mental health, there is some evidence to suggest that it could be helpful. Be mindful of what you're doing when listening to music, and avoid getting dragged down by unhelpful repetitive thinking about your difficulties.
A relaxing playlist
Here’s my relaxing playlist for you….
Here is another example playlist of calming music.
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References
(1) Schäfer, T., Sedlmeier, P., Städtler, C., & Huron, D. (2013). The psychological functions of music listening. Frontiers in Psychology, 4. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00511
(2) Dingle, G. A., Sharman, L. S., Bauer, Z., Beckman, E., Broughton, M., Bunzli, E., Davidson, R., Draper, G., Fairley, S., Farrell, C., Flynn, L. M., Gomersall, S., Hong, M., Larwood, J., Lee, C., Lee, J., Nitschinsk, L., Peluso, N., Reedman, S. E., . . . Wright, O. R. (2021). How Do Music Activities Affect Health and Well-Being? A Scoping Review of Studies Examining Psychosocial Mechanisms. Frontiers in Psychology. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.713818
(3) Golden, T. L., Springs, S., Kimmel, H. J., Gupta, S., Tiedemann, A., Sandu, C. C., & Magsamen, S. (2021). The Use of Music in the Treatment and Management of Serious Mental Illness: A Global Scoping Review of the Literature. Frontiers in Psychology. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.649840
(4) Martina de Witte, Anouk Spruit, Susan van Hooren, Xavier Moonen & Geert-Jan Stams (2020) Effects of music interventions on stress-related outcomes: a systematic review and two meta-analyses, Health Psychology Review, 14:2, 294-324, DOI: 10.1080/17437199.2019.162789
(5) Wang, C., Li, G., Zheng, L., Meng, X., Meng, Q., Wang, S., Yin, H., Chu, J., & Chen, L. (2021). Effects of music intervention on sleep quality of older adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Complementary Therapies in Medicine, 59, 102719. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ctim.2021.102719
(6) Kanagala, S. C., Schäfer, T., Greenberg, D. M., & Gabińska, A. (2021). Depression Symptoms Relationship With Music Use: Investigating the Role of Trait Affect, Musical Ability, Music Preferences. Music & Science. https://doi.org/10.1177/20592043211057217
