The Best Stress Buster! Music

Stress & Music

There is no doubt that all of us undergo a great amount of stress during this period of reading for the MBA. There is no denying the fact that we must balance our professional and private lives in such a way that we get the best out of both worlds. The crucial triangle - family, job and the MBA brings about a considerable amount of negative stress. Even though positive stress is not a bad thing, negative stress is not good either. The positive stress, also called eu-stress is a reaction we have whenever we are faced with a demand which we can handle. It is a spark that can push your body to its limits in order to achieve a certain goal. 

People believe that, music is a ‘universal language’. Anthony Storrs, in his excellent book, ‘Music and the Mind’ stresses that in all societies, the primary function of music is collective and communal - to bring and bind people together. People sing together, dance together, in every culture, and one can imagine them doing so around the first fires a hundred thousand years ago. This primal role of music is to some extent lost today.

We as a family do not listen to music nor play music together, which if done could have been a great stress reliever. Television, internet and the food culture have dominated the social, cultural and family life. Yes! Indeed we need social networks which give us much more easy access to each other than yesterday. But we should have some time with our inner self as well.  Meditation is not an easy task at first to start, though listening to calm music is not very much difficult. 

Covington in 1997 said that, music has been used in the health care setting to reduced stress and anxiety. A number of studies suggest that music may facilitate a reduction in the stress response. Covington says that, decreases in heart rate, greater tolerance of pain and suffering, skin conductance, muscle activity, subjective reports of relaxation, lessened anxiety and depression have been described in stressed patients exposed to classical music. For example, some recordings designed for relaxation is combined with nature sounds such as ocean waves. Using nature sounds designed to mask existing ambient noise can relieve stress. 

If we have a personalized hobby it is so much easier to balance work-life. Otherwise there will be a vacuum to be filled. The question is whether we are going to fill the same with hobbies which are ethical or unethical. My argument is that, we can easily reduce the stress effortlessly with the aid of music. Hence I suggest my dear colleagues to start a habit of listening to calm music according to your taste. (There are many MP3s freely available in the web) It is much effective if you could learn to play an instrument such as a guitar or keyboard. There are thousands of tutorials which are freely available in the YouTube. The inner happiness of playing an instrument is difficult to describe. It is a new language, new experience which can be passed on to your sons and daughters some day. I’m happy and proud to say that I personally experience them in my life. After heavy day of work, I play my good-old guitar with my dearest daughter and that takes all the stress out of the day. The stress vanishes into thin air.

Reference:

Robert E. Krout, EdD. Music listening to facilitate relaxation and promote wellness: Integrated aspects of our neurophysiological responses to music, MT-BC. Department of Music Therapy, Division of Music, Meadows School of the Arts, Southern Methodist University, P.O. Box 750356, Dallas, TX 75275-0356, United States

Covington H, Crosby C. Music therapy as a nursing intervention. Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services 1997;35(3):3467.

Anthony Storr, 1992. Music and the Mind, Free press, division of Macmillan Inc.