Music For the Senses

It makes perfect sense — a vibrant song in a shop, perhaps a familiar tune, can not only draw you in, but keep you there for longer.
Music For the Senses
The type of music you choose can influence your heart rate, breathing, emotions and even brain power. (Photos.com)
8/18/2008
Updated:
10/1/2015
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The type of music you choose can influence your heart rate, breathing, emotions and even brain power. (Photos.com)
Have you ever wondered why you were drawn into a clothing shop when you had no intention of entering in the first place? Or do you sometimes find yourself driving faster unintentionally, without even being in a hurry?

In both instances, the music playing could well have been the contributing factor, albeit on an unconscious level.

It makes perfect sense – a vibrant song in a shop, perhaps a familiar tune, can not only draw you in, but keep you there for longer. A song with a fast tempo on your car radio can make you speed up without even realising it.

Music surrounds us in many areas of life. Along with subliminally affecting us, it can evoke emotion, create inspiration, help us fall asleep, push us to our limits at the gym, aid our concentration and the list goes on.

Recent studies have shown that listening to certain classical music can heighten particular areas of intelligence to varying degrees. For example, listening to classical music can promote healing within the body and stimulate development within the brain.

An experiment undertaken by three psychologists in 1993 investigated the effect on the human brain of listening to music composed by Mozart.

The study showed that when listening to Mozart, a person’s spatial reasoning improved 8–9 IQ points higher than when other types of music were used. Spatial reasoning is the ability to visualise patterns and put them into sequences. This ability is used for problem solving in industries such as architecture and engineering, as well as in everyday life.

This particular study showed that the improvement occurred while listening to the music, but didn’t show any long-term effects when the music was no longer playing.

The “Mozart Effect”, as it was called, has since been popularised and a set of commercial recordings are available to the general public. The owners of the Mozart Effect trademark claim benefits for health, education and well-being. At one stage, the governor of Georgia, US, even proposed providing every child with a classical CD.

So it is very possible that classical music can boost your brain power. Music can also have a very strong effect on mood and emotion that can simultaneously have physiological effects on the listeners. Music is a way of communication, a mode of healing and a form of expression for artists and listeners.

There is more depth to the melodies and rhythms than just singing and sounds, and music has been used for centuries to assist healing and manage pain. It was used significantly in World War II to help returned soldiers cope with the psychological disturbances of war, particularly to fight nightmares and insomnia, and calm anxiety.

Music can help sufferers of anxiety and depression cope with their mental disorders, rather than relying solely on prescription drugs. The first music therapy clinic was established in 1950 and music therapy clinics are now widespread throughout the world, proving that music can play a vital part in health and wellbeing.

Another practical application of music as therapy is during child birth. Expectant mothers are encouraged to create a CD of songs they enjoy as a means of distraction.

Movies and television are a great example of how music is used to evoke moods and feelings so that viewers can feel the scenes. Take note of your breath and heart beat next time you’re watching a movie, and see how your body automatically responds to the music.

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