Blog #5- how music affects their daily lives, especially when studying, working, or exercising

Many people find music helps them concentrate while studying and working. Others find it hard to focus with any background noise at all. 

Music offers a lot of benefits, including:

• improved mood
• increased motivation
• boost concentration
• improved memory and brain stimulation
• better management of pain and fatigue (1)

If you’ve ever struggled through a lengthy, tiring night of assignments, your determination to continue studying might have weakened well before you completed them. Maybe you pledged yourself a treat to complete the study session, like the newest episode of a series you enjoy or a meal from your favourite takeout. A 2019 study indicates that music can stimulate the same reward areas in your brain as other pleasurable activities. Treating yourself with your preferred music can offer the encouragement necessary to absorb new information. If you enjoy music that isn’t ideal for studying, playing your favourite tracks during study breaks might encourage you to focus more on your studies. (1)

Vocalizing, using musical instruments, and dancing may enhance one’s ability to withstand pain. Researchers discovered that the bodily motions involved in making music offer a coordinated experience that greatly raises pain tolerance. Music therapists are specialized professionals who utilize music to achieve objectives like alleviating pain. Since music is frequently a pleasurable experience, it can trigger the release of endorphins, resulting in an overall sense of well-being. Music therapy can effectively decrease post-surgery pain, and muscle tension, and affect heart and respiration rates. Upbeat music often raises pulse rate and blood pressure. Calm music often lowers heart rate and blood pressure, along with breathing rate. (2)

Research has consistently demonstrated that listening to music offers performance-enhancing advantages during different types of exercise, such as endurance, sprinting, and resistance training. Music is often integrated into workout routines by both casual exercisers and competitive sportspeople. Different types of exercise produce distinct physiological reactions, and research indicates that music can influence many of these responses (e.g., heart rate, catecholamines, muscle activation), frequently resulting in enhanced performance. Additionally, listening to music while working out can have beneficial effects on psychological (i.e., mood, motivation) and psychophysiological (i.e., perceived exertion, arousal) changes, potentially enabling positive reactions during an exercise challenge. Nonetheless, the evidence regarding the effectiveness of music is mixed, potentially influenced by variations in music choice and personal preference. Recent findings indicate that an individual’s preference for the music they hear while exercising significantly affects their ergogenic potential, along with their physiological, psychological, and psychophysiological reactions to exercise. Practically, individuals can manage music with headphones, but it’s frequently shared via speakers in locker rooms, gyms, and health clubs, potentially affecting performance and training. This review will detail the physiological, psychological, and psychophysiological reactions to exercise accompanied by music and how personal music preference can specifically influence these responses. Recent insights and emerging data regarding the role of music preference in improving performance across different types of exercise will be examined, including practical implications for individuals and professionals in actual settings to maximize performance. (3)

Music is intricate; it encompasses pitch, timbre, rhythm, dynamics, and much beyond that. Interpreting music is a significant challenge for the brain, as it needs to “combine the sequentially arranged sounds into a unified musical understanding,” as stated in an article from the Journal of Biology. The cognitive activities required to combine distinct sounds into the complete experience of a song resemble the brain’s activities in reading, where it initially identifies letters and sounds before deriving meaning from sentences and paragraphs. Working memory plays a role in both processes, and researchers think there is a significant overlap between working memory related to musical stimuli and that related to verbal stimuli. Feelings, naturally, improve recall. Many adults can still remember every lyric of the songs they cherished in high school – primarily because adolescence is marked by intensified emotions. Research indicates that listening to music could enhance the efficiency of brain cell information processing and support the brain’s adaptability. (4)

Ressources:
1.  https://www.healthline.com/health/does-music-help-you-study#benefits-of-music-for-studying
2. https://www.tmh.org/healthy-living/blogs/healthy-living/how-music-affects-your-mind-mood-and-body
3. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8167645/
4. https://www.pfizer.com/news/articles/why_and_how_music_moves_us