Neuroscience Says Listening to This Song Reduces Anxiety by Up to 65 Percen
This article,
written by Melanie Curtin, summarizes the findings of a study which concluded
that listening to certain songs can reduce the feeling of anxiety. The study conducted
by Mindlab International asked participants “to
solve difficult puzzles as quickly as possible while connected to sensors”
which measured heart rate, blood pressure and rate of breathing. Researchers
had participants listen to ten different songs while participating in these “stress
inducing activities” and measured how the song reduced the participants’ levels
of anxiety. One song in particular titled “Weightless” was found to reduce
participants’ anxiety by 65 percent overall as well as a “35 percent reduction
in their usual physiological resting rates”. The song supposedly decreases anxiety by
helping to slow listeners’ heart, by decreasing rate blood pressure and by
lowering cortisol levels. The article does not however address how the song is
able to do this.
The
results of this study are very interesting and if they are valid, could
certainly provide some relief to those who suffer from the effects of anxiety.
However, I think that this article may have overgeneralized the findings. The
article left out a lot of important information necessary to understanding the
significance of this decrease in feelings of anxiety as a result of these
songs. For example, the article failed to mention sample size, existence of a
control group, and percent of the variance accounted for. These are essential
pieces of information in determining whether or not the results of this study
were actually significant. That being said, I do think this study raises some
good questions about the effects of physiological arousal on the feeling of
emotion. The songs used in the study claimed to slow listeners heart rate,
reduce blood pressure and lower cortisol levels in the body. In class we
learned about two theories of emotion generation, the first being James-Lange
Theory which suggests that feelings result from physiological arousal. The
other emotion generation theory we learned about was Cognitive Theory which
suggests that physiological arousal only contributes to the intensity of
emotion. I would say that the findings from this study provide support for
Cognitive Theory because by managing physiological symptoms participants were
able to decrease the intensity of an emotion. This study can provide insight as
to how managing physiological symptoms can help individuals manage their
feelings of anxiety.
I found this topic to be very interesting because music as a coping skills has been shown during my time as a crisis textline counselor. As a counselor we provide support for people in crisis with a wide range of issues but one of the main issues is anxiety and needing help to manage stressful life circumstances. As this article suggests, I have found that music has been an extremely successful coping mechanism for many (including myself). I listened to the song weightless, the top song for anxiety reduction and found that it did make me feel calm but I am also very responsive to music as a way to manage my emotions. I find this type of research to be important because it helps people identify ways to manage stress in healthy ways which is empowering for alot of people. I do agree that this article was somewhat negligent in allowing the reader to understand how they came up with their results and conclusions. I think that further research would be necessary to provide more concrete evidence of their claims but I do feel that music in general can be a great coping skill.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting and helpful topic. I listen to different genres of music when doing either homework or chores. Personally, songs similar to the beat and rhythm of "Weightless" have proved to be very helpful when completing a task. Also, I agree that this article was lacking certain details. The details about the participants is one of the key pieces of information I could not figure out by reading this article. I feel as if age as well as gender can have a significant effect on findings. If this study was replicated in anyway or redesigned in a different manner, it would be nice to see a correlational study being done on different genres and anxiety levels. It would also be interesting if the researchers conducted a study that focused on men and women separately to see how anxiety levels could be different as well as the difference of song (if any) that might reduce anxiety for both groups.
ReplyDeleteThis topic was very interesting to me because I have test anxiety. The one thing that helps to reduce my anxiety is when I start listening to my music to help block out any other distractions and clear my head. This makes it easier for me to focus on getting through an exam without having to deal with any more stress and anxiety. I agree with Kendall that this kind of research is very important because it could possibly be a great coping mechanism for those with anxiety.
ReplyDeleteMusic is very important to me so this article was a very fun read. I believe music makes the world go around and now there is music used for treating for anxiety. I am not too certain about the song "Weightless", however, I have experienced music calming me down before I speak in front of a crowd. Music can also be used to help complete tasks. The best example would be cleaning your bedroom. An individual works faster while music is playing in the background.
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