How Can Music Help Your Emotional, Physical & Mental Wellbeing?

Playing an instrument has many associated health benefits, such as learning self-discipline, improving mental capacity and the ability to socialise with like-minded people.

Choosing an instrument is the first step; but once this is achieved, you can experience a whole world of new and exciting discoveries.

In our day-to-day lives, our breathing is very shallow. However, wind instruments and even singing requires breathing from the diaphragm.

This reinforces your lungs and respiratory system and can also prevent severe ailments like pulmonary disease.

When we learn an instrument, we often draw deep inspiration from the process of creating music.

According to some studies, making music amplifies immunological response, which enables you to fight illness and infection.

Playing music brings your energies and focus levels together for the good of a positive activity, which can help to lower stress levels.

Reduced stress means reduced blood pressure and heart rate, which decreases the chances of heart attacks and strokes.

Learning to play music perfects your hearing skills by educating you to isolate different sounds as you hear them.

Studies have indicated that musicians are far more adept at picking out specific tonal frequencies, such as a particular person’s voice, in a noisy environment.

Playing absolutely any instrument will lead to an increase in physical activity.

Whether you’re playing the guitar, piano, strings or a wind instrument, you’re using your arms and back muscles to play as you’re holding up the instrument.

You could even be covering your daily treadmill quota if you play drums.

Playing music is like sending your brain to the gym.

Not only does it improve mental and memory performance, but it is widely believed that it can help those who’ve suffered a stroke, as well the slow onset of Alzheimer's and dementia.

Operating your hands, fingers and feet simultaneously, while also consciously playing the correct notes, can be a real challenge.

Over time though, playing an instrument perfects motor skills.

There’s no doubt that playing an instrument takes an enormous investment of consistency and routine.

Fitting practice around your busy schedule helps you to improve and develop your time management strategies in other aspects of your life.

Reading music helps to bolster your brain's ability to process information by forming new bridges between the synapses in your brain.

As a result, reading and retaining information becomes much easier.

Focus and concentration are necessary parts of learning an instrument.

Improving musical acumen means you must use the parts of the brain associated with concentration, which enhances your ability to make decisions in your everyday life.

Whether you’re writing original music or playing a classic piece, music allows you to express yourself in previously untapped ways.

It will also allow you to explore new genres and music you’d never usually be drawn to.

Playing music helps with mental health issues such as stress, insomnia and depression, because it acts as an outlet for emotions.

It can be a form of soothing and mastering your feelings in difficult scenarios and is a healthy segway after a tough day.

There’s nothing quite like undertaking a new hobby and finally nailing that difficult piece that you’ve been plugging away at for ages.

Setting yourself a goal, putting it into action and achieving what you set out to do will improve confidence in all aspects of life.

Whether as a way of making new friends, or you join a club with like minded musicians, music is a great way of making new friends and putting your new found confidence to good use.