HEmil M. Cioran, a Romanian Philosopher once said,  “Music is the refuge of souls ulcerated by happiness.” Whether someone is studying for a test or dealing with family issues they will always need to seek happiness. For many people music is the foundation for happiness in life. It calms, encourages, and inspires them. Matter of fact, music is one of the very few activities in the world that utilizes the entire brain, which has a calming effect. Music is different all around the world, but uplifts one’s spirit the same way. Listening to music is beneficial to one’s life because it enhances an individual’s mental, physical, and emotional health.

To begin, listening to music has a positive influence on one’s life because it benefits their mental health. Research shows that “Even people who have some form of brain damage can regain partial or full access to memories (depending on severity) by listening to music, as listening can help draw on old memories” (Martino). Even something as serious as brain damage or mental diseases can be treated with music. People who suffer from memory loss would find astonishing results from music because  it can lead to them regaining some of their memory and it is beneficial for a person’s mental health. Further, Joe Martino, author for Collective-Evolution explains, “Even children as young as one year old  who participated in interactive music lessons with their parents had a greater ability to communicate, smiled more frequently and were showing greater signs of sophisticated brain responses to music.” Children will learn from listening to music and benefit greatly from it. Being able to teach children skills such as communication and responding to music is enhancing their mental health. According to Joe Martino, listening to music is exercise to the brain and has many benefits for when a person is aging because it helps with memory. Not only does music help with younger individuals, but also with people who are aging. When listening to music the brain triggers memories that one might have forgotten about, improving their mental health. As proven, listening to music is profitable to one’s mental health considering how it helps with mental disorders, communication skills, and memory loss.

Likewise, music has positive impacts on one's physical health by relieving stress, lessening diseases, and promotes exercise. Research shows that listening to music benefits vascular health. After cardiac surgery, men and women were surveyed and results showed that they were less anxious than people who [were not] listening to music (Martino). Since it has been proved that music relaxes the soul and decrease stress, it is necessary for people who come out of surgery and are anxious to listen to it. Many more individuals should benefit their physical health and learn how to deal with stress by listening to music. To add on, studies show, “that music is capable of reducing levels of the stress hormone cortisol, which is responsible for weakening the immune system, increasing risk of heart disease, interfering with learning and memory, lowering bone density, (and) blood pressure”(Martino). Listening to music is the simple solution to many problems people face on a daily basis. Music prevents negative impacts on the mind and body, which is advantageous for one’s physical health. Additionally, “Choosing music that motivates you will make it easier to start moving, walking, dancing, or any other type of exercise that you enjoy” (Emedexpert). Music tends to produce energy and inspiration in people, which emboldens them to exercise. Any type of exercise that the body receives also positively affects the mind in a way that can reduce depression and stress. Listening to music improves one’s physical abilities by provoking exercise. All in all, music helps reduce anxiety, diseases, and encourages exercise which benefits one’s physical health.

To continue, music emends an individual’s emotional health. According to Al Kawakami, a writer for The New York Times, listening to upsetting music, actually profits a person rather than making them more depressed because it helps with the understanding of their emotions. It is beneficial to a person to be able to feel different emotions. Understanding how one feels and having some control over it is profitable to an individual’s emotional health. Moreover, scientists think that “by overwhelming us with an undesirable emotion, music (or drama) somehow purges us of it” (Kawakami). Listening to depressing music can decrease upsetting emotions rather than encourage them. It is proven that the more depressing music one listens to, the happier person they are and will have a more sturdy emotional health. Likewise, music is “allowing us to be uplifted, song has given many listeners a chance to feel at ease, despite whatever we as humans might be going through”(Hebert). People feel stressed and overwhelmed on a daily basis and always are looking for something to turn to when feeling this way. Music is a solution to this problem because it relaxes one’s mind and is like therapy to their emotional health since it influences uplifting feelings during times of stress. At last, emotional health can be improved by listening to music.

Admittedly, some might say that music encourages inappropriate behavior. Aaron Hebert explains how Harper Collins, a member of  American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, stated, “The following themes, which are featured primarily in some lyrics, can be particularly troublesome: Drugs and alcohol abuse that is glamorized, Suicide as an ‘alternative’ or ‘solution’, Graphic Violence, etc.” Modern day artists sing about their experiences with drugs, alcohol, and other horrifying behaviors. When one listens to this music they are being influenced to do these things. Although, it is important to remember that, parents can teach their children that assets in the music they listen to is dangerous. Moreover, some stores prevent children from buying this type of music. Matter of fact, “Some stores have policies forbidding the sale of labeled music to kids younger than 18”(Mediasmarts). If more stores that sell that type of music supervise who buys it, then the negative influences would be prevented from younger audiences. Also, “Parental Advisory labels are printed at the bottom right of a CD’s cover; they are found in the same place in the album art included with digital downloads”(Mediasmarts). Adults should know what their children are up to and be able to control what music they are listening to.  Overall, even though some might conclude that music encourages troublesome behavior, parents can teach their children that they should not be influenced by the music they listen to.

As aforementioned, one benefits their mental, physical, and emotional health while listening to music. A person can improve mental diseases, as well as memory loss. In addition, people are encouraged to exercise when they are listening to music. Also, people who listen to music are often happier people and can free themselves from depression. To some people, music is the only happiness in their lives and they depend on it. For others, music is what they go to when they need to relax and escape their stress. Music provides hope for the future. Additionally, music allows future generations to be more open to different cultures around the world. A life without music is a life without happiness.

Works Cited
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"Inappropriate Content in Music." MediaSmarts. MediaSmarts, 2009. Web. 25 Apr. 2016.
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Kawakami, Ai. "Why We Like Sad Music." The New York Times. The New York Times, 21 Sept.
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Hebert, Aaron. "The Effects of Music on Today's Society." Today's Featured Discussions.
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"7 Ways Music Benefits Your Heart, Brain & Health." CollectiveEvolution RSS. Bunch of Crisp Kids,
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