New Remedy for Reducing Anxiety: Classical Music
Stress and anxiety in college students is something that is often overlooked. The pressure to maintain a balance between all aspects of college life can be challenging and at times, downright impossible.
Academically, keeping up with all of your assignments, studying for exams, and maintaining that perfect GPA can be mentally draining and lead to things like burnout.
Socially, participating in a wide variety of extracurriculars, and maintaining positive relationships with your peers can be daunting.
Financially, college is not cheap, and constantly worrying about if you have enough money to continue your education is stressful. According to a study done at Ohio State University, 7 out of 10 students feel stressed about their finances. Sadly, the examples above are just a small handful of issues that ruminate in the minds of thousands of college students. Can you guess what some other problems are? Check out the ten commons problems college students face to see if any of your guesses were correct.
It comes as no surprise that many students face multiple mental health issues including depression, anxiety, OCD, and eating disorders. Anxiety, in particular, is widespread across college campuses. According to the American College Health Association Fall 2018 National College Health Assessment, 63% of college students in the US felt overwhelming anxiety in the past year. Coping mechanisms such as daily exercise, meditation, and therapy have been shown to be effective anxiety management strategies. However, one potential coping mechanism we many take for granted is music; more specifically, classical music. That’s right cue the Bach and Mozart lovers, for they might have an advantage over us stressed college students.
Classical music is most likely not your go-to choice when you pull up your Spotify. Nonetheless, have you ever considered the benefits that listening to classical music can yield? Combating anxiety is only the first on the list of the benefits of classical music listeners can reap. For example, numerous studies have found that classical music can improve your quality of sleep, boost memory, and even increase creativity.
High anxiety results in physiological changes that begin in the brain. A stressful event triggers a signal to be sent into the amygdala of the brain, which then relays the distress signal to the brain’s command center, also known as the hypothalamus. This structure then is responsible for the visible symptoms we see in someone under stress.
Symptoms include increased heart rate (HR), breathing rate, and blood pressure (BP). Furthermore, the body begins to release more cortisol (stress hormone) to keep you on high alert during these stressful times. Many times medications can be used to suppress these symptoms but could also come with adverse side effects. Thus, a group of researchers at Mersin University, investigated a full proof medication that offers virtually no side effects: classical music. After all, according to author Kamand Kojouri, “Classical music [is] the best, and cheapest, mind-altering drug in the world.”
In this study, researchers took it one step further and not only investigated the links classical music has in reducing anxiety levels but also determined if the type of classical music listened to by participants had any effect. One hundred eighty preoperative patients, who naturally at baseline would most likely be highly stressed, were used for this study and divided into four groups. Group 1 listened to relaxing music consisting of natural sounds only, group 2 listened to classical Turkish music, group 3 listened to classical Western music, and group 4 did not listen to any music. Of note, all participants listened to their music for 30 minutes. Symptoms indicative of anxiety such as HR, BP, and cortisol levels were recorded.
Interestingly, listening to natural sounds, Turkish classical music, and Western classical music all significantly decreased anxiety levels in participants via reducing cortisol levels, BP, and HR. Furthermore, in general, individuals were more positively affected by Turkish classical music. Makes sense because, as mentioned above, this research was done at a University in Turkey, and participants most likely had some past exposure to Turkish sounds and music. Were this study done in America where Western music is more popularized, I would assume results would be reversed because recent studies have found that musical tastes are cultural in origin.
However, it begs the question, could familiarity further reduce anxiety? Past studies have established that familiarity is a critical factor in making listeners more emotionally engaged with music. Thus, increased engagement from familiarity could outcompete the ruminating anxiety and act as once again, an efficient coping strategy. Future studies should incorporate this familiarity aspect by perhaps giving participants the option to choose a song of their choice to listen to and seeing if that impacts anxiety levels.
College students are in the prime of their lives, always on the go. During these times, stress and anxiety buildup are inevitable, but the fact that classical music -something readily available in today’s technologically advanced society- could be the cure is impressive. So reach for those headphones and listen to some anxiety-reducing tunes. Don’t know any? Start by looking at Marconi Union’s “Weightless,” which researchers at Mindlab International have found to be “the world’s most relaxing song” just in time for what may be the most stressful time in the college world: finals season.
References:
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American College Health Association. American College Health Association-National College Health Assessment II: Undergraduate Student Reference Group Data Report Fall 2018. Silver Spring, MD: American College Health Association; 2018.
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Chang, L. (2018, December 22). Cortisol: What It Does & How To Regulate Cortisol Levels. Retrieved from https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/what-is-cortisol.
Uğraş, G. A., Yıldırım, G., Yüksel, S., Öztürkçü, Y., Kuzdere, M., & Öztekin, S. D. (2018). The effect of different types of music on patients preoperative anxiety: A randomized controlled trial. Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice, 31, 158–163. doi: 10.1016/j.ctcp.2018.02.012
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This might be the most relaxing song ever made. (2017, October 18). Retrieved from https://www.wellandgood.com/good-advice/most-relaxing-song/.
