The Amazing Power of Music in Our Lives

When was the last time you thought about music, and what role does music play in your life? If you enjoy music every day, you are likely reaping many benefits. But if you merely think of music as the background noise at the grocery store, as part of annoying commercial jingles, or as what adolescents are addicted to, you’re missing out. Here are seven ways you can benefit from having music in your life.

1. Music gives your brain a good workout.

Music has a mathematical structure based on relationships between one note and the next, including patterns, sequences, and harmonies. You may not be aware of it, but your brain has to do a lot of computing to make sense of it. So, not surprisingly, listening to music can improve learning, memory, and mental alertness. It also boosts concentration and mindfulness, as listening, playing, or moving to music keeps you focused in the present moment and even puts you “in the zone” where you experience the blissful state of “flow.”

2. Music can boost overall health.

Research has shown that listening to music can reduce anxiety, blood pressure, and pain, as well as improve sleep quality, mood, well-being, and happiness. And especially when you’re moving to music, your brain gets washed in beneficial “feel-good” hormones, such as dopamine, serotonin, and endorphins. So not only does music potentially add more years to your life, it adds quality years.

3. Music connects you to your culture and connects people across cultures.

Music is a vital element of culture, and every culture has specific genres of music that are created, produced, and enjoyed by its people. In the U.S. alone, there are dozens of popular genres, including Afro-beat, bluegrass, classical, country, electronic, folk, hip hop/rap, jazz, Latin, pop, rhythm and blues, soul, rock, and theatrical. All of these types of music have different origins and are associated with different subcultures, but they can be enjoyed by anyone, leading to mutual cross-cultural appreciation and communication. Musical traditions are also woven into cultural celebrations—think about the music you associate with birthdays, adolescent rituals, graduations, weddings, funerals, and songs or chants that mark religious holidays, such as Hanukkah, Christmas, and Ramadan.

4. Music sets the mood.

Your music preference in the moment can depend on how you want to feel. You likely pick specific types of music depending on whether you’re looking to relax or exercise, trying to be productive, contemplative, or romantic, or traveling by foot or on wheels. The right music can boost your mood and your motivation to clean up, do homework, or work out. In contrast, you likely avoid music that makes you feel agitated, sad, or bored.

5. Music is especially good for children’s brains and brain development.

Children and teens can benefit enormously from listening, playing, and moving to music. Children who listen to more music than their peers have a higher sense of self-worth and less depression and anxiety. Music therapy in medical settings can lower stress in sick children and reduce the length of hospitalization.

In adolescence, music provides a satisfying creative outlet, and when identifying with the lyrics, teens acquire a comforting sense that someone understands them. Music also promotes the development of the prefrontal cortex, which improves decision-making and emotional regulation—both excellent benefits for teenagers.

6. Music evokes memories.

When children are exposed to music, they can have rich experiences that create positive memories. You, too, may associate certain genres of music with pleasant memories and enjoy listening to music from your past. Similarly, there’s a reason we sing our ABCs—setting information to music helps us remember it.

7. Music inspires dance.

When you synchronize your movement to music, different parts of your brain are alert, exercised, connected, and soothed. Dancing to music is even more powerful than simply listening because it involves more areas of the brain as well as the body. So take all the cognitive and health benefits of listening to music, and then add the dancing benefits of physical fitness, strength, balance, and coordination. In fact, dancing to music is so beneficial to the brain that dance classes are used therapeutically for people with Parkinson’s disease, a progressive neurological movement disorder. And because dance requires complex coordination to synchronize movement to music, dance is superior to other physical activities in reducing the risk of dementia.

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If you want a superior workout and rewards, learn how to partner dance. Coordinating movement to music with a partner—or even with a group of people—is a joyful, collaborative venture that strengthens multitudes of neural pathways as well as neural synchrony with others. And besides dopamine, serotonin, and endorphins, your brain also releases oxytocin, the social-emotional bonding chemical that boosts feelings of connection and contentment.

What’s not to love?