How can you use music to help your mood?
Music isn’t a massive multi dollar industry because we simply like it. There are many good reasons why we listen to music.
There is also good research at our fingertips telling us how music can change our mood within seconds. It can:
Uplift us
Make us cry
Motivate us
And make us feel, sexy
Do you remember a time when you’ve been listening to the radio or watching a film and the music connects with you and gives you a massive burst of emotion?
How many times have you put on a particular style of music to purposefully change your state of mind?
Why does music do this?
Because music connects with our senses at a very deep level by altering our hormone levels. Music will change our cortisol levels which then raises or lowers our blood pressure which then affects our heart rate, making our senses react accordingly.
Besides affecting our emotions music will also have other great benefits:
Improve our attention levels
Boost memory
Strengthen learning skills
Reduce sensory sensitivity
Improve motor skills
Rehabilitation after injury or illness
How can we use music to help us?
If music has such great benefits for us how can we use it when we are struggling with our mental health or even the general flow of our moods and disposition during a big change in our lives?
Change can feel difficult when you’re feeling emotional, very down, anxious, and stressed. As individuals we all know what helps us to feel happier, feel better about ourselves and be more sociable with the people around us. Unfortunately, it can feel hard to implement it into our lives and feel the benefits.
How often have you noticed the lack of lust in your life and no desire to dance and sing when the music you love comes on the radio?
Jasmin’s Story To Using Music To Support Her Mood
A few years ago, I had a long conversation with a young lady, let’s call her Jasmin, about how she uses music to support her mental health. Jasmin explained to me that she would feel very angry a lot of the time, to the point of self-destruction. We went on to talk about her love of music and how she uses it to support her mental health.
Jasmin found that just putting on mellow, calming and peaceful music didn’t help, in fact, it could make her feel worse. Jasmin made up a playlist that began by, matching the levels of her mood and would gradually introduce music that was more mellow, calming and peaceful through the playlist.
My Research with Using Music To Help My Mood
This got me thinking about how I use music to support my mood, and this is what I discovered. As a lover of music and dance when I am feeling great about life and myself singing along and moving to the music is easy. I absorb the music easily and it makes me feel even greater. However, when going through definite periods of feeling down I just couldn’t gear myself up for it and almost put a barrier up to it.
Continuing my research helped me discover that I didn’t like forcing myself into full song but like Jasmin would find myself over a period gradually gearing myself up through the different stages.
8 Stages To Using Music To Support You.
Stage 1. Just listening to the music
Stage 2. Talking the words in my head
Stage 3. Humming the tune
Stage 4. Talking the words out load
Stage 5. Quietly singing
Stage 6. Full song
Stage 7. Adding gentle movement
Stage 8. Singing and dancing as if nobody’s watching or listening
Stage 9. Enjoy the thrill of being able to let go
Understanding this process and allowing myself to implement removes the feelings of forcing myself into a mood or state that is making me feel uncomfortable. It all begins with listening to your unheard self and making sense of those difficult thoughts and feelings.
You cannot always force yourself into something that is hard; rather like knocking a square peg into a round hole but being patient with yourself. Learning your own way to using music to help your mood will stand you in good stead for a more stable recovery to a happier future.
I know how hard and frightening these difficult thoughts and feelings can be. Don’t be afraid to reach out to someone who understands similar feelings to yours.
Book a 30 minute conversation with me to find out how you can begin to get into your grove again.
