Role of Music in Management of Stress and Anxiety
Stress and anxiety are major responses to disappointment, sickness and other daily challenges in the life of a human being. When people get stressed or anxious, they to turn to various coping mechanisms, some of which have proved to be so helpful. Since ancient times, music has gained much popularity as a means of reducing stress and anxiety. However, less has been said about how music functions in relieving stress and anxiety. Music has a well-established soothing power, emanating from both its composition tools and the lyrics, which acts as a link to a person’s emotions, making it an effective instrument in managing stress and anxiety.
Practically, music is meant for recreation and has the power to modify emotional processes in the human nervous system. Generally, when one experiences stress or anxiety triggers, the nervous system is generates stress hormones, a process that referred to as stress response (Alagha & Ipradjian, 2017). A person experiences stress and anxiety following a stress response lasting for a long period. Playing or listening to music hastens the process of recovering from the stress response. The stress response is triggered by the music to switch off. Listening to musical beats or playing the instruments creates fun, which aids in relaxing the nervous system.
Musical lyrics are a great source of relief from stress and anxiety. Music is composed of both the instrumental and lyrical aspects. The Lyrical elements give rise to the themes in music composition. Anytime a person is stressed or anxious, he or she knows the trigger. It is these triggers that music composers utilize to develop music. As a result, when a person is stressed, they tend to listen or play the music that has a direct link with the trigger of their stress of anxiety. Similarly, different music genres help in relieving different kinds of stress and anxiety. For instance, classical music presents a peaceful music genre that is believed to slow the heartbeat rate of the listener (DeMarco, Alexander, & Gallagher, 2015). Music draws inspiration from specific human experiences that a great percentage can relate to, especially when undergoing through similar experiences.
There is limited proof of the efficiency of music in reducing stress and anxiety as there are also other means of managing stress and anxiety. Critically, music does not work for everybody and does not always give rise to desirable results. Some people prefer other methods such as listening to nature sounds, travelling, swimming, hiking or nothing at all (Marca & Finkel, 2014). Nature, particularly, is famed to have stress and anxiety-reducing powers. The existence of other means of reducing stress and anxiety limits the applicability of music. However, the fact that music resonates in different ways, both through instruments and lyrics, with the nervous system gives it a mileage over all the others.Conclusively, playing and listening to music is an ideal avenue for drawing ones nervous system away from the response process. It not only initiates fun but also tends to relate to the experience through the lyrics. The musical instruments synchronizes both the body and the mind to act in a given manner. It improves the mood and helps to relax the body. The lyrics in the music help the listener or player to understand that the experience is among the harsh life realities and should not be a bother. The power of music in reducing stress and anxiety hints that musical therapy should be done more often both by individuals and treatment centers.