7 Songs To Reduce Anxiety, According To A Neuroscientist
That music has a strong influence on our mood is something that almost all of us know or have intuitively recognized. There are several investigations that prove this close relationship between music and emotions. What is new now is that a British neuroscientist has postulated that certain songs can be listened to to reduce anxiety, specifically.
Dr. Lewis-Hodgson, in association with the British laboratory MindLab International, published a list of songs to reduce anxiety, by up to 65%. He did it after conducting a study with a group of 40 female volunteers. In the research, the brains of each of them were monitored while they listened to music.
Other bodily signals such as heartbeat, blood pressure, and breathing rate were also closely monitored. All the volunteers, without exception, showed greater harmony in these indicators after listening to the songs to reduce anxiety.
What are those issues that do so much good to the mind and the organism? Dr. Lewis-Hodgson made a list of seven songs to reduce anxiety. It does not mean that they are the only ones. The scientist simply went to topics that are popular in his cultural background. These are those seven themes, organized from least to greatest influence.
Pure Shores by All Saints
According to the Lewis-Hodgson rankings , All Saints’ song Pure Shores ranks seventh among songs for reducing anxiety. It belongs to the genre of electronic pop and its lyrics speak, precisely, of relaxation.
This song was critically acclaimed around the world. It employs double bass keyboards, with dolphin sounds in the background. Some lists place it as one of the top 20 songs of the entire century.
Canzonetta Sull’aria by Mozart and Strawberry Swing by Coldplay
Sull’aria , or “on the breeze” is a short duet of the third act in the opera The Marriage of Figaro. It is written for oboe, bassoon, and strings. It contains 62 bars and was used as a background in the movie Dreams of flight .
For its part, Coldplay’s Strawberry Swing has a particular tribal influence in its production. It was released to the public in 2009 and gained critical acclaim. For some connoisseurs, the theme has a cadence typical of Japanese music.
Watermark by Enya, one of the songs to reduce anxiety
Watermark is part of Enya’s first music album. Warner Music UK producer Rod Dickins was delighted from the get-go with this track. Anticipating what science would say later, he assured that the subject allowed him to sleep better.
The voices used in Watermark were overlaid 200 times. This causes Enya’s voice to get lost in that hypnotic and evocative set of sounds. The inspiration was childhood memories, full of magic and fantasy.
Mellomaniac (Chill Out Mix) by DJ Shah and Electra by Airstream
The song Mellomaniac (Chill Out Mix) is the brainchild of Roger Shah, better known as DJ Shah. This German, of Pakistani descent, is known for his compositions in electronic music. With Mellomaniac he reached one of his best achieved songs.
Both that track, and Airstream’s Electra , are in the anxiety-reducing song group. Experiments carried out at MindLab indicate that they slow the heartbeat by up to 27%, and could even have analgesic effects on chronic pain.
Weightless by Marconi Union
The Weightless song was listed as “the most relaxing in the world” by the MindLab Institution in 2011. According to research, this topic is 11% more reassuring than any other. It was found that it reduced anxiety by up to 65%.
This should come as no surprise, as the Marconi Union deliberately used scientific theory to compose a particularly relaxing song. The British Academy of Sound Therapy certified this.
Sure there are many other songs to reduce anxiety. What they have in common is a complex composition, they basically have no repeating patterns. This causes the brain to “switch off” as it cannot “predict” the next measure. Music is, therefore, another of those tools that we can turn to in moments of exaltation.
