Are you sad? Are you depressed? You feel sick? Start composing prose, poetry, or music. Yes, you heard right. Literary and musical creativity helps to improve our mental and mental health. Scientific evidence has recently been found for this.
Anti-stress lyrics
The healing effect of texts and musical compositions on the psyche and the human body is a long-established fact. Thus, researchers from the University of Sussex came to the conclusion that of all activities that are traditionally considered anti-stress, the most effective, oddly enough, is reading. During a series of tests, volunteers were asked to use one of the most common relaxation methods and measured the participants' pulse and muscle tone. It turned out that after six minutes of reading, the stress level dropped by 68%, while music reduced it by 61%, a cup of tea or decaf by 54%, and a walk in nature by 42%.
Many probably noticed that most often a person wants to write poetry when something bothers him, oppresses him, that is, when he is in a disharmonious state. But at the end of the creative process, the mood noticeably improves, and with it, of course, the state of health. It is not for nothing that they say about writers and composers that they are always not satisfied, they are constantly in a creative search. Creativity for such people is nothing more than a drug, doping, which helps them to exist in the literal sense of the word.
Neuroscientist Matthew Lieberman from the University of California at Los Angeles invited a group of people who had various psychological problems or experienced a stressful situation to express their feelings in poetry and prose. At the same time, the scan showed that in 30 of the subjects, the activity of the cerebellar amygdala, associated with anxiety and fear, decreased, and the activity of the part of the prefrontal cortex, which regulates mental abilities, increased.
According to Matthew Lieberman, "The process of writing about personal experiences has a cleansing effect because it suppresses the brain regions associated with emotional outbursts and increases the activity in the part that is responsible for self-control." Moreover, it does not matter what quality these texts are. A graphomaniac, like a genius, after the creation of the "imperishable" is able to experience a state of euphoria for some time.
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Drier, more laconic - and by hand
Know this "method" has its own nuances. Thus, the positive effect of the influence of literary creativity was practically not observed if the descriptions given by the participants in the experiment looked too bright and emotional. Reflecting on this riddle, the researcher decided that by creating such texts, the authors were forced to re-experience the psychological trauma they received. However, the effect looked "blurry" even if the text was typed on a computer. In the end, Lieberman came to the conclusion that the greatest therapeutic result was achieved when the texts, written by hand (that is, with the application of more effort than "rattling" on a computer keyboard), did not differ in particular emotional coloring. The drier and more succinctly the participant of the experiment set out the facts, the faster he calmed down:from the outside, the situation no longer seemed so dramatic to him.
Roughly the same thing happened if a person wrote music and lyrics for songs. Thus, he was able to translate his stress into the language of sounds, as if to “release” it into space and bring himself into a state of inner harmony.
We are treated with classics
Indeed, music does not lag behind literary creativity in terms of its impact on the body. About two millennia ago, the famous physician Asclepius, drawing out roulades on a pipe, healed patients with sciatica, and Democritus argued that a person can be healed by playing the flute. Scottish scientist Maxwell, playing music, successfully healed people suffering from epilepsy, mental illness, paralysis, dropsy, impotence and various types of fever …
Recently, experts from the Maryland School of Medicine found that listening to your favorite music has a positive effect on the functioning of the circulatory system. Scientists conducted an experiment in which a group of 10 healthy volunteers listened to different music for several weeks, and then underwent a medical examination. It turned out that after listening to their favorite tunes, the participants in the experiment experienced an expansion of their blood vessels by an average of almost 26%, while music, which caused discomfort in the subjects, caused them to constrict blood vessels by 6%.
The greatest benefits to our body are brought by classics and folk melodies, the researchers say. Pop and light dance rhythms do not have any positive impact on us. And hard rock is even harmful: it can lead to mental illness.
Researchers at the Universities of Maryland and Pennsylvania played classic Baroque melodies - for example, works by Bach, Handel, and Vivaldi - in reading rooms in libraries and doctors' offices for experimental purposes. At the same time, surveys were conducted among visitors and patients, which showed that their mood improved by 63% (compared to those who did not listen to music}, and job satisfaction - by 50%. In addition, classical music had a positive effect on people's ability to to spatial thinking, to concentration and analytical capabilities of the brain.
American scientist Ranji N. Singh has even compiled a list of classical pieces of music that help the body produce the hormone melatonin, which is vital for our body. This is the second part of the "Concerto for Piano-Beethoven, Psalm 116" Thank God-Mozart, "Moonlight-Debussy, the third movement of Rachmaninoff's Second Symphony," The Romantic Flute of Pan "by Zamfir," Concerto for Oboe "by Vivaldi, Gregorian psalms," Liturgy of Pope Marcelus ". It is especially helpful to listen to this music before bed.
What does our brain love?
Costas Karageorgis, a sports psychologist at Brunel University in the UK, has studied the impact of music on our performance for over 20 years. He tried to find the perfect melody that would get the most out of the worker. According to Karageorgis, it depends on four factors: the rhythm of the melody, its "musicality", cultural influence on a person and the associations that arise when listening to music. At the same time, if you synchronize the working rhythm with the musical one, then the labor efficiency increases significantly. Thus, the myth that silence and the absence of extraneous noise is necessary for productive work is completely refuted.
A study by Karageorgis showed that people who did something to the beat of the music needed 7% less oxygen than their colleagues who did not listen to the sounds of the melodies. In addition, “music lovers” were less tired during work.
With this, everything is more or less clear, but after all, not only the rhythm of the music affects us! Why, for example, do different melodies (albeit “scrolled” at the same speed) cause different nervous, psychological, physiological reactions in us? The famous musician and researcher of the phenomenon of healing music Leonid Timoshenko states: “The physiological aspects of the impact of music are based on the sensitivity of the central nervous system (central nervous system) to acoustic influences. Namely, to pulses directed by a sound wave of the required frequency. The sound wave causes a response from the central nervous system in the form of the production of biologically active substances that regulate the work of internal organs and body systems.
By correctly choosing a piece of music, it is possible to stimulate the development of biological systems, and to influence purposefully on certain qualities of the organism. There is an effect of the sound wave acting on the central nervous system by transmitting an impulse to it, in other words, a “command” to align its physiological parameters”.
Experts believe that every person's brain is tuned to certain vibrations. After all, we all love completely different music. Someone adores classics, someone - rock, someone - stage, someone - folk songs or romances … If we hear our favorite melodies, then our brain tunes in with them on the same wavelength, our mood and vitality improve and we feel more comfortable.
Ida Shakhovskaya. Magazine "Secrets of the XX century" № 14 2011