Music is a powerful thing, and as musicians and music enthusiasts, we understand just how valuable music can be not only for invoking emotions or telling a story, but for helping our mental health heal and thrive. The benefits of music for healing extend beyond mental health, though, with scientific studies gathering evidence that shows a way to target music to help with inflammation, stress, sleep issues, anxiety, indigestion, mindfulness, and breathwork, all with the use of specific sounds.
With all the “healing products” on the market, it seems almost too easy to reap health benefits from a musical piece, but as musicians, don’t we know better than anyone how something simple can evoke a huge reaction?
The Healing Power of Music
Utilizing music to improve mental health has long been acknowledged and implemented due to its ability to calm the mind, ease anxiety, and improve our mood. While many factors tie into these abilities, one of the primary contributors is an area of the brain highly stimulated by music, called the dorsal medial prefrontal cortex, which is also responsible for emotion and memory. This connection that exists in the structure of our brain means that listening to music directly stimulates the portion of the brain responsible for mood and memory, which is often why certain songs can transport you in time and modify your mood.
However, the benefits of music can also offer physical benefits that might not be as obvious. For example, studies have found that targeted music treatment (i.e., using a specific type of music to stimulate a desired response) offers treatment for asthma and autism.
Those who suffer from brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, stroke, and epilepsy also benefit immensely from targeted therapy and can often retrieve a piece of their past self that many consider lost to the disease.
There’s a reason why music therapy is growing in popularity across all communities; whether mental health or chemotherapy, the power of music is being harnessed as a way to increase health and improve healing.
The advantage of combining these benefits with a mobile app and its easy-to-use interface revolves primarily around the increased convenience offered. A healing music soundtrack that can improve both your mental and physical well-being is always just a few taps on a screen away, no matter where you may be. Not only that, but many of these apps combine their music with meditation, which is another method of calming the mind, reducing stress, and achieving a healthier state of mind.
Wellness Apps That Use Music to Heal
Utilizing music to heal is an obvious health and wellness choice for musicians who already have a strong preference for, and experience with, the power of music. Listed below are five apps that utilize music to promote healing and are an excellent starting point for your healing journey, whatever that may look like for you.
RoundGlass Living
The RoundGlass Living app is seeing an addition to its healing powers with its Music Collective, an assortment of musical compositions created to help enhance the immersive, meditative experience offered by the app.
Each original composition featured on the RoungGlass living app is 30 minutes in length or longer, giving you ample time to enjoy a transformative sonic journey. The compositions call upon the evidence offered by scientific studies regarding what specific sounds target certain areas, and the results are astounding.
Cove
This is an app that will speak to musicians everywhere. Music has long been used as an outlet to express emotion, and Cove utilizes this theory to allow you to work through any feelings you may have in a healthy way. It combines journaling with music, allowing you to add chords, melody, and percussion to help you work through how you are feeling.
Not only do you get to explore how different instruments and chords make you feel, but by creating your own composition, you are actively working through these emotions so that, in the end, your mental health experiences a vast improvement.
Humm.ly – Healing with Music
The Humm.ly app is a music therapy and mindfulness app which provides stress relief and mental health support. The categories within the app span various goals, including general wellness, the workplace, and relationships. In addition, the meditations offered can help reduce stress levels and calm anxiety.
By combining the benefits of meditation and music, those with anxiety and depression see a decrease in their symptoms while increasing their self-awareness, producing results that last long after the app is closed.
Music Healing
The Music Healing app understands and utilizes the powerful nature of music and the effect it has on your body and psyche to heal your mental state and lay a strong foundation for the body.
The Music Healing app features a plethora of soothing music options accompanied by beautiful imagery to utilize both the visual and auditory senses to the fullest. The primary goal behind Music Healing is to provide music that aides in relaxing the body and calming the mind when in stressful situations, which helps combat the negative toll that chronic stress takes on our physical health.
Mindfulness, Meditation & Sleep
The Mindfulness, Meditation & Sleep app, which primarily serves as a meditation center, utilizes music to help users address various conditions.
Some of the topics covered by the meditations include:
- anxiety & stress management
- insomnia
- women’s health
- depression
- substance abuse & addiction
The appeal behind this app lies in its ability to accomplish more than relaxing the body; its guided meditations also open the mind, address other health concerns, and help you come out on top. Not only that, but those who use this app often go on to develop healthier habits, which would not be possible without the help of music to calm, center, and focus the mind.
The Power of Music
Music has an intrinsic healing property that can change your emotions, enhance your memory, and improve your overall health. Utilizing any one of the above apps allows you to experience the benefits of music in an easy-to-use format that is always just a tap away. Whether you want to use something that heals a specific area or work through your emotions with music journaling, there is an app available that can help you achieve the results you wish.