The power of music and health
Suicide is 3x higher in men than it is in women data from the Samaritans shows. For#MensHealthWeek we wanted to talk about the important role music plays in health, both physically and mentally as music can bring so many benefits. Music has the ability to bring people together socially through events such as festivals & gigs and create amazing memories. Like crowd surfing through the crowd at a festival, which we found out recently from one of the Steanside crew. Music is also powerful in business and has been shown to increase advertising campaigns responses, with popular music evoking an emotional response towards a campaign.
I'm sure you've been so engrossed on your phone scrolling social media and then you hear you favourite song pop on the television? Yep thought so, and that's the power of music. We can even go as far to call music a type of therapy. In the healthcare industry this is known as 'music therapy' says researcher Stige. Therapy isn't often associated with music as the term 'therapy' is usually used for 'treatment' to feel better or stronger and is often used after injury or to treat illness. So remember, next time you've skanked so hard to a Steanside track and pulled your shoulder out, Steanside can actually help you recover.
The amazing thing about music is that it’s widely available and easily accessible, all over the globe. Karl, our website lead, mentions music to be a universal language. Which when you think about it, music can and has started powerful movements worldwide, as music is emotive and can bring strong feelings and a sense of togetherness which can help combat loneliness. We’ve seen music be used to get a powerful message across, whether this be in climate change and/or in protests, which when spoken as language, translation can be lost. Whereas music can resonate differently and deeply. Music has seen an increase of importance for study in both educational, community and healthcare settings due to its increased importance. This is why for #MensHealthWeek we are having a conversation around music and health.
To get an understanding of how the Steanside crew use music in their everyday life, we asked them the below; “how does music help you daily?”. Marco, one of our directors at Steanside mentions that music makes every part of their day better and uses it in many aspects from the gym to streaming content. Our graphic lead Jack mentions music helping to uplift his mood if he is feeling down and assists in putting them into a positive mood. It can also have the opposite impact. Have you ever felt down and played sad songs to make you more upset? Yeah, same. Studies have shown the power of music in helping change one's mood. Next time you’re down, we’d recommend you putting on your favourite playlist (obviously Steanside) to brighten up your day! Changes in hormones (and no we don't mean your period), have been researched in music. Results show‘ psychological processes associated with musical experiences lead to changes in the hormonal systems of brain and body’. Pretty powerful stuff right? This leads on nicely to a quote from our other director Dean, who highlighted music to be a form of escapism, quoting:
"I'm lucky enough to have the ability to make it from scratch, writing down my thoughts in beats and sounds has literally saved my life".
Music has the power to shift moods which is echoed by all of our team at Steanside. With increased moods, music has been found to increase Serotonin, also known as the happy hormone. As a result, this increases the performance in exercise. As music is a motivator and hence increased performance comes more happy hormones, win-win! Director Marco mentioned “music is honestly the key to keeping me positive throughout my physical health workouts and general mental health”. Exercise in itself is known to improve not only your physical health but also your mental health too, which is so important. As we come to the end of our first blog post, please remember if you are struggling, there are helplines out there for you which we've linked below at the bottom of the post. We hope you've enjoyed the read, keep your eyes peeled for more to come in the future.
Much love, the Steanside fam <3