Music has for a long time helped people as an outlet for emotions. However, science has discovered that songs, rhythm and sound frequencies can be used to treat physical ailments. There is a new wealth of information on the benefits of music for physical and mental health. A study by Prof. Daniel J. Levitin and Mona Lisa Chanda proved that music benefits the mental and physical health of a person. They found that it not only improved functions of the body’s immune system but, also reduced stress levels. According to their research, listening to music worked better than prescription drugs in reducing anxiety for patients awaiting surgery.

Scientifically, music has been found to have many benefits including:

⦁ Improving memory

⦁ Improving workouts

Helping one heal

Reducing stress and depression

Improving sleep quality

Sound therapy works on babies and children too according to research on 272 premature babies. They used a gato box to produce two-tone heartbeat rhythms, the parents sang a lullaby and to mimic the mother’s womb; they used an ocean disc. Expert music therapists played the music which matched the babies’ heart rhythm and breathing.

They concluded that music slowed the heart rates and the children stayed alert and awake longer when they sang. They also noticed improved sucking from listening to the gato box, enhanced sleep on listening to the ocean disk and reduced stress levels from the parents. From the research, music activates and excites the body. It also improves the quality of life and promotes recovery.

Another research on the music and stress link, doctors used music to soothe pediatric patients. University of Alberta scientists studied 42 children between the ages of 3 to 11. They found that patients listening to relaxing music as the doctor inserted an IV displayed significantly less distress and pain than those who didn’t listen to music. The IV’s were also easier to administer to kids listening to music than those who were not.

They conducted a study on participants who tried to solve puzzles fast while connected to sensors. There was a certain level of stress induced by the puzzles, and the researchers made the participants listen to different songs. They measured their blood pressure, breathing rate, brain activity, and heart rate. The top song with the most significant state of relaxation according to the test was Weightless by Marconi Union.

Participants experienced a 65% overall anxiety reduction when they listened to the song. Their physiological resting rates also reduced by 35%.

The song was remarkably constructed to do so. The Marconi Union collaborated with sound therapists when creating the Weightless song. It has carefully arranged rhythms, harmonies and bass lines that slow the heart rate of the listener, reduce their blood pressure and reduce cortisol – a stress hormone.

Lowering anxiety and stress levels reduces your body’s risk to health issues like obesity, depression, heart disease, asthma, gastrointestinal problems, headaches, sleep problems, memory problems and many more. Science is therefore clear on the fact that if you want to reduce stress, let your body and mind relax by listening to music. Music can make some of our daily stressors like emails, appointments, deadlines, meetings reduce. It will prevent your body from feeling anxious and drained.

The Weightless song was so effective that it caused drowsiness. It’s therefore advisable to not drive while listening to the song. Other songs to listen to when you need to get off the daily pressures of life are available on this playlist. The playlist includes songs like Electra by Airstream, Strawberry Swing by Coldplay, Watermark by Enya, Someone Like You by Adele, Canzonetta Sull’aria by Mozart, Please Don’t Go by Barcelona, Mellomaniac (Chill Out Mix) by DJ Shah, We Can Fly by Rue du Soleil, Pure Shores by All Saints, and of course Weightless by Marconi Union.