To What Extent Does Music Improve Health and Wellbeing?

Lyz Cooper of The British Academy of Sound Therapy was commissioned by global music streaming service Deezer to explore the following –

·       How many people use music for health and wellbeing?

·       What tracks do people use to regulate their emotions and improve health and wellbeing – are there any favourite tracks or musical styles?

·       Is there a common ‘dosage’ – how long does one need to listen to music for the therapeutic effect to be experienced?

With this information Deezer editors created therapeutic playlists enable people to create their own recipe of ‘sonic vitamins and regulate their mood-state throughout the day.

Introduction

Music improves health and wellbeing by affecting our neurochemical systems for reward and pleasure; stress and arousal; immunity; and social affiliation Chanda & Levitin (2013). They go on to say ‘many people use music to regulate mood and arousal, much as they use caffeine or alcohol’ 2. To many people, music is an important part of their health and wellbeing – a musical supplement. These ‘sonic vitamins’ play just as important a role as a morning coffee or glass of wine in the evening. Many studies have been conducted to help us understand how and why music affects mind body and emotions over the years but there is a significant gap in research that explores how we use music to help us process every-day emotions, self-regulate and even self-medicate. There is also little research that explores whether there is a common dosage – how long do we have to listen to music before the therapeutic effect is experienced.

Chanda. M.L & Levitin. D. (2013) The Neurochemistry of Music, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, v.17(4) 179-193