Music can have a stress-reducing effect in everyday life
Listening to music in everyday life can have a stress-reducing effect. Data collected by psychologists at the University of Marburg indicate this. For a study, the researchers asked 55 test subjects to regularly answer questions about their subjective well-being and their music listening habits.
At the same time, researchers from the Music & Health Lab led by clinical biopsychologist Urs Nater measured the stress hormone cortisol. The data suggests that the stress-reducing effect of music does not depend on the music itself, but on the reasons for listening to it.
The data shows that whenever music was played to relax the test subjects not only reported lower stress levels, but also lower cortisol levels in their saliva. This was particularly the case in the late afternoon and evening. The type of music (e.g. sad or happy, calming or activating), on the other hand, had no influence on the subjectively perceived stress after listening to music.
However, a different correlation emerged here: music that was described as calming predicted a lower alpha-amylase concentration in saliva, regardless of the reason for listening to music. Alongside cortisol, alpha-amylase is another biomarker for stress, but it is obviously produced by the body under different conditions.
Original article:
Linnemann, A., Ditzen, B., Strahler, J., Doerr, J. M., & Nater, U. M. (2015). Music listening as a means of stress reduction in daily life. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 60, 82-90.
doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2015.06.008.
