When you think about music, fun activities such as dancing or parties likely come to mind. However, music also offers excellent opportunities to learn and discover many new things.
Music engages both the left and right hemispheres of the brain simultaneously, enhancing learning and memory. According to research done at Johns Hopkins University, music can also help you remember and retain information.
Here are the four ways music may assist you in learning and development:
1. Music Helps You Focus
Stanford researchers found that “music moves [the] brain to pay attention.” Moreover, Waterloo surveyed 200 students and found that 120 of them had music as their study aid. The popular reasons the students gave were: “blocks external interferences,” “helps concentration,” “keeps mind calm,” and “prevents sleepiness.”
Do you get easily distracted by noisy surroundings? You can use instrumental music, prayer and meditation music, or nature sounds to enhance your focus.
2. Music Triggers Emotions
Music, memory, and emotions are all inextricably linked to one another. Music acts as a powerful memory-retrieval trigger, which you could’ve observed before: you hear music that you haven’t listened to in years yet can still remember the lyrics.
Have you ever wondered why songs are so much simpler to recall than certain academic concepts? It’s because a song follows a pattern, making it simple to learn and remember the words. This is also why most popular songs have captivating hooks so listeners can easily recognize them even after just one listen.
3. Music Improves Brain Function
Background music has been shown to improve cognitive performance. According to a study, listening to music helped exam takers finish more questions in the time provided and list down more correct answers.
Learning or studying music is a mental exercise that prepares the brain for new tasks and obstacles. People who have had musical instruction before the age of seven are reported to have healthier brains and are less prone to illnesses such as Alzheimer’s and dementia.
4. Music Reduces Anxiety and Stress
Anxiety and stress are two things that all students are familiar with. They peak during exams season when multiple academic responsibilities vie for attention. These unpleasant feelings might drag you down and undermine your spirit after a time.
A study on the effects of listening to music on the human stress response was undertaken by the National Center for Biotechnology Information. According to the findings, listening to music helped people relieve stress more rapidly after a stressful incident by promoting a quicker nervous system reaction.
After all, immersing oneself in a song’s beat can help make everything else fall away. Are you worried about finals or a major project? Put on your headphones and lose yourself in a world other than your worrying thoughts. If you want to learn how to calm down anxiety, music can help you find out by giving you a calming experience.
What Type of Music Helps You Learn?
There’s no definite answer to which music can help you learn the most as it depends on your brain. However, one thing’s for sure—music aids learning. Try a variety of music genres to discover which one suits you best: rap, instrumentals, Christian healing music, natural sounds, lyrical songs, rhythms, or hip hop are all fine choices. Find your favorite genre and play it while learning new things.
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