Most of us believe that music has a strong effect on improving our mood when we are anxious, but this soothing effect is not limited to improving our emotional state; music changes the brain, resets neural pathways, and simultaneously affects the body's physiological functions.
According to Scientific American, a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA shows that this ability of music distinguishes it from other soothing sounds, such as nature sounds. Music calms the heart rate, reduces stress-related sweating, and regulates levels of cortisol, the stress hormone.
Yi Du, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the senior author of the study, says: "After a stressful experience, the brain may remain in a heightened state of alert. Nature sounds can provide a calming background, but music, in addition, guides the brain along an orderly path. In this way it gradually creates arousal and tension, evokes a sense of anticipation, and ultimately resolves that tension."
Du and his colleagues conducted a series of experiments to identify the unique neural effects of music. They first asked a group of 30 people to listen to music and asked another group of 30 people to listen to the sound of water in nature before and after performing a task designed to induce stress. This task included mental arithmetic exercises that participants had to perform within a limited time while receiving feedback.
The researchers measured participants' stress responses, including heart rate and salivary cortisol, before and after the test. Those who had listened to music returned to baseline from stress more quickly.
In the second experiment, another group of participants underwent brain scanning using functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI. The researchers found that listening to music, and not nature sounds, strengthened specific neural pathways.
Du says: "Music changed how regions of the brain that process sound connect with regions involved in regulating stress and arousal. Simply put, music does not just mask stress or distract us from it; it provides a structured pathway for the brain to return to a calmer state."
Of course, Du says, more research is needed to fully understand the mechanism by which music soothes the stressed brain.
He says: "We examined young, healthy individuals experiencing short-term stress. Therefore, the results may not directly apply to clinical populations or chronic stress in everyday life. We also used music selected by the researchers, whereas an individual's preferred music may have different effects."
Nevertheless, this study helps explain the findings of previous research on the relationship between music and physiological and psychological responses to stress.