It’s safe to say that for most of us, music is simply another form of entertainment to be enjoyed throughout the day. Whether we’re at the office, a concert or stuck in a commute, music is one of those things that is literally all around us, all the time. We know that it has the power to have an emotional impact on listeners, but have you ever stopped to think about how music and sound can actually affect your life… physically? While researchers are only beginning to scratch the surface, it’s clear to us that music has the ability to power our daily lives, more so than was ever thought before.
When it comes to wellness, studies have shown that music can produce some surprising health benefits. For example, researchers from Sussex University and the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig, Germany found that antibody levels increased in subjects that were exposed to 50 minutes of dance music. It’s likely that these immunity-boosting effects are caused by the ability for music to reduce the negative stress hormones that surprise our immune function. Maybe we should change the phrase to, “a playlist a day keeps the doctor away!”
Speaking of health and wellness, were you able to make it to the gym today? If not, you may be inspired by some additional findings from researchers at the Max Planck Institute who found that listening to music stimulates the brain and makes the body want to move around. This is often times why you see many athletes listening to music on their headphones before a big game or match-up. Thus, athletes and traditional exercisers alike have used music to motivate themselves, resist mental and emotional fatigue and enhance their physical performance.
It’s not just on the field, but we’re also seeing a lot of positive impacts in the workplace too. Scientists from the University of Windsor in Canada released a study that examined 56 developers from a local software company which showed that overall productivity and quality of work were at their lowest when music wasn’t present in the office. Make sure to tell that to your boss next time he or she asks you to turn down your speaker.
While these are just some examples, it’s clear that music has a number of positive side-effects that help to power and maintain our minds and bodies throughout the day. To that end, we’ve gone ahead and developed an infographic that details some of the many ways that music and sound transforms our daily lives. Take a look and make sure to let us know how music helps to power your day!
