Is Classical Music Good for Your Brain? If you like classical music, you already know that Beethoven, Vivaldi, or Bach can take you to another world with their music. For some people, these masterpieces are just a tune played in the waiting room of the doctor’s office. No matter how you feel about classical music, research shows that it has many positive effects on the brain, from helping you remember things to helping you relax.
Is Classical Music Good for Your Brain?
If music is “food for the soul,” then classical music is omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants, and a little bit of caffeine. During a control group in 1993, Dr. Gordon Shaw, a physicist and professor at the University of California, saw that his college students’ IQs went up after they listened to Mozart.
Experts had a lot of doubts about the study, which they called the “Mozart Effect.” Even though the results didn’t show a direct link to higher IQs, Dr. Shaw thought that listening to Mozart could help warm up parts of the brain that help with abstract thinking.
In line with this, a study by Dr. Kevin Labar says that music can improve mental performance and cognitive function, but not by making people smarter or raising their IQ. What really happens is that the calming effect of classical music causes dopamine to be released, which makes you feel more happy.
Dopamine also stops stress hormones from being made. From here, your mood gets better, which clears your mind and makes tasks like writing an essay or studying a lot more fun.
Less stress and more relaxation
If work, school, or just everyday life are making you feel stressed, sit back, close your eyes, and put on Bach’s Twelve Little Preludes on the stereo. Why? Because classical music has always been linked to making people feel less stressed.
A 2018 study that looked at how different types of music affected patients’ anxiety before surgery found that classical music can slow the heart rate and breathing and make people feel less upset. Classical music also lowers the amount of the stress hormone cortisol in the brain, which can help reduce stress and lower blood pressure.
If your kids are driving you crazy, play some Chopin to calm yourself and them down at the same time.
Better memory
Forget where you put your keys all the time? Check out some classical music. A study from the Department of Medical Genetics at the University of Helsinki in Finland shows that listening to classical music for just 20 minutes a day can change the genes that control how your brain works and how well you remember things.
Those who listened to classical music during the study were more likely to feel good about themselves. The researchers saw an increase in dopamine release, synaptic function, and learning and memory-related genes. This also had the gene synuclein-alpha (SNCA), which is often linked to how birds learn their songs. This shows how hearing and remembering sounds evolved over time.
In the same study, genes linked to neurodegenerative diseases were turned down by classical music. A healthy brain is a happy brain, and classical music, especially music that brings back good memories, can increase dopamine and neuroconnectivity in the system, which slows down the aging process.
Read more: Can Classical Music Helps You Focus?
Assisted sleep
Finding sleep a struggle? For people who have trouble sleeping, there is now an alternative to sleeping pills. In 2008, the Institute of Behavioural Science at Semmelweis University in Budapest found that classical music helped students with sleep disorders fall into a deep sleep. This was because the music reduced sympathetic nervous system activity, lowered anxiety, and lowered blood pressure, all of which helped the students drift off to sleep.
So why do we fall asleep to classical music instead of pop or punk rock? Songs with fast beats and words can make the brain try to do too many things at once and get confused. Classical music is great for people who can’t sleep because of its slow tempo, calm melody, and soothing rhythm. It also helps the body get ready for sleep.
Final Words
It’s clear that classical music is good for not only the brain but also the rest of the body. Because it can lower blood pressure, calm anxiety, and even ease pain, you should make a new classical playlist on Spotify. Classical music is great, and we should listen to it every day. But nothing can compare to the real thing.
If you live in Central Coast or just like orchestral music, you can’t miss the next Symphony Central Coast performance. Symphony Central Coast is one of the largest community orchestras in NSW. It was started in 1999 with help from the Central Coast Conservatorium of Music. The orchestra is made up of some of the most dedicated and skilled musicians in the area. It is led by Dr. Steven Stanke, a composer with many skills.
“Blues, Reviews, and Avenues,” with Bernstein’s “Symphonic Dances from West Side Story” and Ravel’s “Piano Concerto in G,” will be on December 1 at the Performing Arts Centre at Central Coast Grammar School, with Gareth Szakos as the soloist.
