Verified Drafted by Laura Iuzzolino. This article has been reviewed, updated and verified by our team of psychologists for the last time on May 18, 2023.
Discover the true benefits of listening to classical music and how to make the most of them.
Classical music is popularly known for its multiple benefits. It has been proven that stimulating our ears with this type of musical rhythms and patterns brings pleasant sensations and collaborates with the treatment of diseases.
Some benefits that are attributed to classical music are true, others of them are legends. In this article we will tell you about them. We will tell you how to take advantage of exposure to classical music. If you want to know how to do it, this article is for you.
Music generates sensations. A song that we have just heard can make us happy. A familiar melody can lead us to remember past moments. Listening to music in a group makes us share a feeling with others. All this happens because music has effects on our brain.
Listening to melodies and songs stimulates various areas of the brain, such as those responsible for memory, concentration and mood. This is how music can improve sleep, concentration, release stress, among many other things.
However, not all music genres have the same effects. Rock invades us with adrenaline with its heavy and accelerated rhythms. Electronic music stimulates the brain so that it generates electrical impulses that improve concentration. Pop increases dopamine production, which creates pleasure.
The center of our attention today is classical music. It is scientifically proven that listening to it for at least a few minutes a day will bring us multiple benefits. Classical music stimulates brain areas that will allow us to stay alert, optimize learning processes, improve concentration, among many other benefits.
If you want to know in depth what daily listening to classical music will produce in you, then keep reading. We will tell you what are the main benefits of listening to this musical genre.
Mozart effect
In the 1990s, the otolaryngologist Alfred Tomatis described the Tomatis Therapeutic Method. In which, during sessions, he had his patients listen to classical music, mainly works by Mozart. It was intended to stimulate the ear and the nervous system, to integrate aspects of human development and behavior.
Tomatis believed that Mozart’s works were capable of producing this type of stimulation, hence the name “Mozart Effect”. This is how the idea began to emerge that listening to classical music and, especially, works by Mozart, could cure depression and even make people more intelligent.
This is how the idea spread, due to statements by the American psychologist Frances Rauscher that classical music composed by Mozart could stimulate children’s intelligence and increase their IQ. However, this theory did not last long.
A subsequent study conducted by scientist Jakob Pietschnig and his team at the University of Vienna in 2010 revealed that Rauscher’s claims were not actually correct. They analyzed this fact in more than thirty studies involving thousands of people. And even so, they failed to find evidence that Mozart’s melodies were in any way related to stimulations that lead to an increase in IQ.
In the words of Pietsching (2010): «I recommend everyone to listen to Mozart’s music, but the hope that this will increase their cognitive abilities is in vain»
7 Benefits of listening to classical music
Although the phenomenon of the Mozart Effect has been denied, this does not imply that listening to classical music is not beneficial. In fact, doing so brings multiple and varied benefits.
Here we will tell you about the most important benefits that you will enjoy when listening to classical music.
1. Reduce stress
In our times, being stressed is commonplace and, it is a fact, that classical music helps reduce stress levels. Studies have indicated that this type of melodies favors the relaxation of the muscles. These factors contribute to releasing stress.
2. It influences the mood
Classical music, due to its characteristics, contributes to improving the mood. Its harmonious melodies stimulate us, generating pleasant sensations and well-being. In general, you will manage to be happier.
3. Fight insomnia
Researchers at the University of Toronto have shown that the rhythms and patterns of classical music help with falling asleep to combat insomnia. They create these melodies, a meditative state and slow down the brain waves.
4. It is used to complement treatments
To treat some mental illnesses such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, classical music is used as a complement. The results of allowing patients to listen to classical music while being treated reveal that this favors their predisposition in exercises that stimulate their memory.
5. Stimulates creativity
Art, in general, stimulates our brain capacity. Classical music is no exception. By stimulating our brain, it also allows us to stimulate our creative capacity. So we can say that listening to classical music daily will make us more creative.
6. Lowers blood pressure
Listening to classical music brings benefits for hypertensive people. Just as it helps relax muscles and release stress, it also helps lower blood pressure.
7. It can promote learning
Although the Mozart effect has been denied, it is true that listening to classical music is a useful strategy to favor learning processes. It won’t make us smarter, but it will make our brain predisposed to learn. Helps concentration.
Listen to classical music and enjoy its benefits
As you may have seen, listening to classical music will not make you smarter as the Mozart Effect theory would say. However, they will be able to enjoy other very important benefits such as the ones we have mentioned.
If you are looking to reduce stress, stimulate your creativity, even help you fall asleep, classical music will be an excellent complement to do so. You don’t have to listen exclusively to the works of the extremely talented Mozart. Any melody of this genre, due to its characteristics, will help them achieve the benefit they are looking for.
Start today, improve your mood with classical music and notice the difference.
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