As you may be aware, stress is not good for your health. Stress raises your blood pressure, heart rate, and expels cortisol, which studies found may yield to a shorter life expectancy. Recent studies have even discovered that stress erodes vital DNA connections that can lower your immune system.
Furthermore, cortisol is a hormone that is expelled into your body to help you deal with stress. For example, it will tell your legs to run if you are in danger. However, the downside of cortisol being released is that in doing so, energy is taken away from other vital systems in your body, especially your immune system.
If your immune system deteriorates, then you are more susceptible to disease, hence potentially a lower life expectancy. Now, how do you lower stress levels to maintain a good immune system and to up the odds of increasing your life expectancy? One answer I have reasonably assessed is to attend music festivals.
There have been countless studies on the correlation between the reduction of stress and music.
Per usual, all studies have unknown outliers and there never is a 100% guarantee on the results of scientific discoveries. Whatever the case may be, it is worthy to mention a study that was conducted at Arizona State University School of Science:
Scientists asked women to either listen to relaxing music, nature sounds, or to do nothing. Following the music session, they had the women stand in front of an audience and perform two tasks. First, each woman had to give a speech. Second, each woman had to do complicated math in her head. These two tasks make up the Trier Social Stress Task, a method scientists use as a sure-fire way to make people feel stressed.
Scientists know that the body responds to stress by releasing cortisol, and so they used it as a way to measure stress. Scientists compared cortisol levels after listening to music and at various times after doing the Trier Social Stress Task. The scientists also measured an enzyme called alpha-amylase that is found in saliva.
The scientists tested how classical music and nature sounds affect levels of cortisol and alpha-amylase.The alpha-amylase levels of people who listened to classical music went back to normal more quickly compared to the people listening to nature sounds. This suggests that relaxing music helps the body to return to a non-stressed state more quickly.
This is just one of many studies that connects stress levels to listening to music, there have been many others as well. For example, on Psychcentral.com they state, “music therapy significantly reduces emotional distress and boosts quality of life among adult cancer patients.”
Also noted on Psychcentral.com, scientist found that listening to music helps people reach a state of mediation. Therefore, you could say that if you are in a state of mediation while listening to music, then you are less stressed, so your potential of developing various sicknesses related to stress goes down.
Also according to Psychcentral, singing along to songs can release tension and stress as well. What that means to me is that we should sing along to our favorite tracks like no one is listening- for our health!
Studies have connected music with stress reduction and also stress with life expectancy.
Based on those conclusions, we can say that listening to music for 3 to 10 days in a row at music festivals can reduce your stress levels therefore, potentially positively impacting your life expectancy.
Start lowering your stress levels right now by listening to Deepak Ram’s track ‘A Night In Lenasia’:
Beyond listening to music at festivals there are other factors that increase our well-being.
For one, we feel a part of a positive and encouraging community that is full of love and respect. That sense of community builds people’s morale and esteem, which yields to healthier habits and potentially a longer life. Also, at music festivals we dance and wiggle hard, which is great cardio hence, great for our health.
In conclusion, the benefit of attending music festivals is more than the party.
Music festivals facilitate people developing lower stress levels during the festival. In addition, when you get home from a festival and start listening to or singing your favorite tracks from the weekend your stress levels will be severely lowered. Finally, attending a festival can result in developing healthier habits and is a great way to get your cardio on.
Now, go out to as many music festivals as you can. Listen, sing and dance to as much music as possible to lead a healthier life.
