We all love listening to music. Why not? There could hardly be a person present in this World who doesn’t love music. It is a collection of pre-arranged Sounds. When creating music, tones, and sounds are arranged in a certain order and then combined to create a harmonious song. Music is any sound instrumental or vocal, occasionally both that creates a structure, harmony, or artistic representation of human emotion.
Purpose of Music
Music serves as a medium for expression and mood regulation for both people and animals. When an animal is afraid, music can help calm them down and soothe weeping babies. When words cannot adequately express an emotion, music may.
Characteristics of Music
Music is based on the following characteristics that contribute to creating different songs. These could be listed as
- Sounds (overtone, amplitude, pitch)
- Structure or Form
- Melody
- Texture
- Rhythm
Positive Aspects of Music
People use music to make sense of everything, even the most difficult things. Even if you watch movies, you’ll notice music plays an integral role in every scene or part. While listening to your favorite music, you experience some degree of relief from loneliness. You sense a connection with another person. Dopamine and cortisol, the brain chemicals that cause feelings of happiness and stress, fluctuate in response to music, which is one of the ways that the body responds to it physically.
Since we all love listening to music we may consider it an excellent element of our daily lives, but as they used to say “excessive use of anything could be a dangerous thing even its sweet“. Below we discuss some negative aspects of listening to too much music.
What happens when music becomes too much
Hearing Health
Long-term exposure to high noise levels can overstress ear hair cells, leading to their eventual death. For as long as the exposure lasts, the hearing loss becomes worse. Even when noise exposure has stopped, harmful consequences could persist. An injury to the auditory nerve system or inner ear is typically irreversible.
This happens when you especially listen to high intensity and volumes for a longer period.
To reduce the harm your ears are exposed to, experts advise maintaining sound levels between 60 and 85 decibels.
Emotional Health
Studies have indicated that listening to music might enhance our emotional intelligence, lessen anxiety, and even help us make better decisions. The parts of the brain linked to pleasure, reward, and emotional control are activated when we listen to music.
But, there is a variety of music out there and it all depends on our choice. When we listen to emotional music or melodies for a longer period it may lead to depression and can badly affect our emotional health.
To avoid this issue, always keep changing your taste in the music you listen to, and don’t hit on emotional melodies for a longer period.
Decreases Sensitivity
Music helps us to make sense of things, even including the things that are difficult to say or understand. Listening to music affects us emotionally, physically, and mentally. Every Genre reacts to our senses, listening to a romantic album will make you feel more in Love, and at the same time if you listen more to an energetic genre it will make you feel more motivated and self-driven to a goal.
But listening same thing again and again will diminish your senses and you’ll no longer want to listen to your favorite albums and Genres.
To avoid this kind of issue, try taking a break by turning off your music playlist.
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Impact on Focus
Research indicates that music might have a long-term effect on our mood, exacerbating anxiety or despair. Certain songs, lyrics, and musical genres have the potential to increase depression or anxiety to a greater or lesser extent than external stresses and environmental conditions thus leading to less focus and attention to our daily life routines.
To avoid this, don’t listen to music while studying, working, eating, or doing any particular task that needs your utmost attention.
Sleeping Disturbance
According to a study, over 25% of participants who listened to well-known songs before going to bed experienced nighttime awakenings with the tune “stuck” in their minds. This earworm phenomenon, which is the spontaneous replaying of music in the head, has been linked to worse quality sleep. Too much music before a nap highly affects the quality of your sleep and you may face irregular sleep patterns leading to tiredness and lack of energy.
To avoid such sleep issues, don’t listen to music before going to bed. You can read a book before a nap or just peacefully talk to your head by having a look back at your whole day.
Maintain a Healthy Balance
To enjoy the benefits of your music consumption without suffering any bad effects, you must find balance in your music intake. Here are a few tips
- Adjust your Volume: Listen to music at a moderate volume, try avoiding too loud music, and always use noise-cancelling headphones.
- Update your playlist: Shuffle your playlist! Try listening to new mixes and tracks to boost your mood to avoid any stress or mental health issues.
- Take a Break: Give some rest to your ears. Forcing your ears to the same high frequencies can lead to severe mood changes and can badly affect your hearing.
- Be Present: It’s important to be focused all the time so always take a break to give yourself some rest. In that way, you’ll enjoy more music by paying more attention.
Conclusion
With so many benefits, music is a beautiful and fulfilling aspect of our lives. We can fully appreciate music while preserving our health if we are aware of how much and how loudly we listen. Play your favorite music now, but for the greatest experience, keep your listening habits under control.
I’m Rashail Francis. I just graduated from Forman Christian College, Lahore Punjab with a degree in Information Technology & computer science. Currently studying MSC in Machine Learning. Other than my studies I am a Vocalist and a Musician, and have worked with different musical societies in FC and Lahore. I learned Indian Classical Music when I was 12. I play harmonium, piano, and guitar. Recently, I have started learning music production.