Music And Stress

Music and Stress


     During the first week of my self change project I monitored my stress

levels and the way music effected the mental and physical aspects of stress.

From monitoring this properly, I found that listening to music pleasing to me at

the specifically different times I experienced stress did help reduce my

internal feelings and physical changes.  In carefully studying the various types

of stress experienced I concluded that certain types of music more effectively

reduced my stress and anxiety levels.   The following paragraphs explain further

the types of stress felt and the music that  assisted in subsiding the symptoms

of stress.

        Stress can be felt in several different forms, included here are the

following ways I experienced stress.  This step was found to be particularly

important in past studies to learn specific Œstress styles'  and most

importantly, what music reduced what symptoms of stress.  There are six separate

forms of stress that can be experienced.  These are symptomatic in physical,

behavioral, emotional, cognitive, spiritual, and relational aspects.

     Physical symptoms I personally experienced were:  headaches

(specifically tension headaches), nausea, dizziness, sleep difficulties, tight

neck and shoulders, racing heart, trembling hands, and restlessness.

Behavioral symptoms I felt were:  a definite excess in smoking, bossiness

towards others, compulsive gum chewing, I became critical of others, grinding of

my teeth so hard that I am forced to wear a mouthpiece at night, and an

inability to finish what I start.  Some of the emotional symptoms included:

crying, anxiety,nervousness, boredom, edginess, overwhelming sense of pressure,

overwhelming anger, being unhappy for no reason, and very testy.  Cognitive

symptoms that I felt were:  trouble thinking clearly, forgetfulness, writers

block,  long-term memory loss, inability to make decisions, and constant

excessive worry. Spiritual aspects of stress that I felt: doubt, unforgiving,

apathy, and a strong feeling for the need to prove myself.  Examples of

relational symptoms included:  isolation, intolerance, resentment, clamming up,

nagging/whining, distrust,and  less contact with friends.

     The importance of identifying interpersonal feelings helps with deciding

what music would be most effective in reducing stress.  Here are my findings

for different types of stress:

        For most physical symptoms, I found that a calming music worked best

these CD's give a good example of calming, relaxing music (from my collection):

Enya, The Vienna Boy's Choir,  Collage (A compilation of classical works proven

in a psychologically monitored project found to greatly reduce anxiety.  They

are collections that are popping up at several doctor office waiting areas to

calm the patients.), Sarah McLachlan, and the Moscow Boy's Choir.  For

behavioral aspects of stress, I found that listening to music with a Œsing-a-

long' interface worked best.  I concluded that this was for the following

reasons:  A. it kept my mouth busy, and B. it kept my mind off the overhead of

stress.  Good examples of Œsing-a-long' songs are ones from soundtracks such as

Grease, Footloose, even Disney soundtracks were fun and kept me singing.  For

part of the emotional symptoms I would listen to calming music and the other

part I would listen to fast paced music that expressed how I felt at that

particular time.  For example, when felt like crying, I found it best to listen

to depressing music because the act of crying actually is a form of expression

that can build up as easily as anger and can help you feel a great sense of

release when you do cry.  For the anger/edginess aspect I found that listening

to fast-paced music such as Nine Inch Nails and Hole helped me to get the anger

or other emotion out.  I did get confused when studying cognitive, spiritual,

and relational  Œst
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