Every year, millions of Americans suffer from mental illness. And since mental health awareness month (May) is here, let's talk about something that genuinely calms your brain and makes you dance your worries away! Yes, Music! 

Music is truly therapeutic. Apart from the entertainment factor, it acts as a positivity pill for our brains. It makes us sing our hearts out while helping us cope with the symptoms of depression and anxiety. Music has the power to soothe our souls and affect how we feel about ourselves. 

While the benefits of music are widely known, did you know that music therapy is actually a thing? Yes, music is a clinically approved therapy for sanity and mental stability with proper therapists designated! 

Below, we will discuss some incredible benefits of music for our mental health and the types of music therapies available. Read on!

What is Music Therapy?

Music is an evidence-based therapy to boost a person's overall mood and mental health. It also helps treat a variety of health conditions, such as cardiac issues, substance abuse, autism, and Alzheimer's. 

In fact, music therapy helps people come out of depressive episodes and deal with symptoms of PTSD. Music therapists use creative and planned approaches to help their clients cope with their conditions and heal quicker. In short, music is the safest and most effective therapy for mental health issues.

Types of Music Therapies

There are different types of music therapies, and their uses depend on strategies and cases. Here are some of the most common music therapies:

1. Dancing to music

2. Singing or chanting

3. Playing instruments

4. Writing songs

5. Meditating with music

Music therapists use these therapy types and techniques to help people heal from substance abuse, PTSD, insomnia, depression, and anxiety. Depending on the situation and cases, these therapies can be performed individually or in a group. 

5 Benefits of Music for Mental Health

Here are 5 potential benefits of music for your mental health.

1. Lifts Mood and Motivation

Listening to uplifting and happy music helps release feel-good and happy hormones called ​​serotonin and dopamine in your body. These hormones eventually promote a positive mood and happiness. When this happens, you will feel more motivated to do the tasks with which you struggled. Even if the tasks are as simple as going out for a run or completing a presentation, music will make you feel confident. 

So, whenever you feel like having a lazy and less-motivated morning, find the most uplifting and joyous playlist and get your mind and body moving in no time!

2. Reduces Stress

We all experience some form of stress: stress from work pressure, academics, relationships, and much more. The good news is that music helps us cope with stress. In fact, it is one of the best stress relievers. 

All you need is calming, ambient, and quiet music whenever you feel stressed out. Just put on your headphones or play soothing music in the background, and you'll feel relaxed! You can find countless stress-relieving playlists with calming music on the Internet. 

Just make sure to avoid metal and loud rock metal; only ambient and soothing music will help you cope with stress.

3. Improves Focus

Music also helps improve focus and attention. Whether it is solving math exercises, studying, or working on a project, music will sharpen your attention so you can complete your tasks quickly and to perfection. Plus, music makes even the tedious tasks less boring and more enjoyable. 

We recommend listening to instrumental, ambient, and electronic dance music to improve focus. Ideally, music that has a tempo of 60 beats per minute is ideal for boosting focus and the ability to process information.

4. Helps to Relax

We all have times when we come home and just want to unwind and relax after a super long and stressful day at work! Music is all we need at such moments. It helps relax our muscles and remove our worries. It is good to listen to sounds of nature, piano tunes, and string instruments to relax and calm your mind.

You can even combine relaxing music with a hot bath with candles. Or maybe you'd want to sleep with the music in the background. 

5. Helps With Anxiety & Depression

Lastly, music is one of the best treatments for people dealing with anxious and depressive thoughts. Therapists from all over the world are now recommending music playlists to their patients to deal with mental health issues. In fact, mental rehabilitation centers have specific times and days fixed for music therapies.

Instrumental, classical, and ambient music are the best genres to reduce anxiety and depression. The genre also depends on your mood and preferences.

Final Words

Now that you have gone through the entire post, we are sure you understand that music can heal our minds in so many ways. There are countless genres, and each has healing abilities for specific cases. So, what are you waiting for? Put on some music, sing along to the lyrics, dance like no one is watching, and see all your worries and negative thoughts vanishing into thin air!