How can music therapy help reduce responses to daily stress?

Music therapy helps individuals manage daily stress by utilizing the powerful, familiar medium of music to enhance overall well-being and reduce physiological reactivity to stressors.1

By engaging in various interventions—such as listening to music, songwriting, improvisation, or lyric analysis—therapists can help patients achieve a state of relaxation. For instance, music therapists may employ sedative music to assist individuals in reaching a deep state of calm.1

On a neurological level, listening to or playing music can actively lower levels of cortisol, a primary stress hormone. These activities help calm the nervous system and can potentially accelerate recovery from stressful experiences. Furthermore, listening to favorite music can stimulate the release of dopamine, which promotes feelings of pleasure and motivation, providing a positive counter-balance to the agitation often associated with daily pressure.21