music as stress reliever essay

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Peer-reviewed

Research Article

Music listening and stress recovery in healthy individuals: A systematic review with meta-analysis of experimental studies

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft

* E-mail: [email protected]

Affiliation Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University, Nijmege, Netherlands

Roles Conceptualization, Methodology, Supervision, Writing – review & editing

Affiliations Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University, Nijmege, Netherlands, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmege, Netherlands

• Krisna Adiasto, 
• Debby G. J. Beckers, 
• Madelon L. M. van Hooff, 
• Karin Roelofs, 
• Sabine A. E. Geurts

• Published: June 17, 2022
• https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0270031
• Peer Review
• Reader Comments

Effective stress recovery is crucial to prevent the long-term consequences of stress exposure. Studies have suggested that listening to music may be beneficial for stress reduction. Thus, music listening stands to be a promising method to promote effective recovery from exposure to daily stressors. Despite this, empirical support for this opinion has been largely equivocal. As such, to clarify the current literature, we conducted a systematic review with meta-analysis of randomized, controlled experimental studies investigating the effects of music listening on stress recovery in healthy individuals. In fourteen experimental studies, participants ( N = 706) were first exposed to an acute laboratory stressor, following which they were either exposed to music or a control condition. A random-effects meta-regression with robust variance estimation demonstrated a non-significant cumulative effect of music listening on stress recovery g = 0.15, 95% CI [-0.21, 0.52], t (13) = 0.92, p = 0.374. In healthy individuals, the effects of music listening on stress recovery seemed to vary depending on musical genre, who selects the music, musical tempo, and type of stress recovery outcome. However, considering the significant heterogeneity between the modest number of included studies, no definite conclusions may currently be drawn about the effects of music listening on the short-term stress recovery process of healthy individuals. Suggestions for future research are discussed.

Citation: Adiasto K, Beckers DGJ, van Hooff MLM, Roelofs K, Geurts SAE (2022) Music listening and stress recovery in healthy individuals: A systematic review with meta-analysis of experimental studies. PLoS ONE 17(6): e0270031. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0270031

Editor: Urs M. Nater, Universitat Wien, AUSTRIA

Received: July 14, 2021; Accepted: June 2, 2022; Published: June 17, 2022

Copyright: © 2022 Adiasto et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Data Availability: All materials relevant to our review, including: (a) the pre-registered study protocol; (b) an outline of the search strategy; (c) a list of screened articles with rationales for exclusion; (d) the meta-analysis data set with extracted data; and, (e) R code to replicate the analysis, are available on the Open Science Framework ( https://osf.io/9pxhj/?view_only=0f2f28db4adf4a2492aa57e5e003cc9f ).

Funding: The author(s) received no specific funding for this work.

Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Introduction

The prevalence of stress-related diseases worldwide has seen no decrease over the previous decade [ 1 , 2 ], as stress has become so pervasive in daily life that our physiological systems are under constant pressure to cope with various stressors [ 3 ]. Stress recovery has been introduced as a process which may mitigate the adverse consequences of frequent stress exposure [ 4 , 5 ]: effective stress recovery on a daily basis may prevent the occurrence of blunted or exaggerated stress responses that over time develop into various physiological and psychological disorders, such as cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease, hypertension, burnout, and depression [ 2 , 5 – 8 ].

Given the importance of effective stress recovery from exposure to daily stressors, research on potential means to promote stress recovery has experienced significant growth [ 5 ]. Various activities have been proposed that may lead to better stress recovery, one among them being music listening. Music listening may have a modulatory effect on the human stress response [ 9 ]. Furthermore, given that music is readily available through online streaming services, music listening stands to be a time- and cost-effective method to facilitate daily stress recovery. Indeed, a recent meta-analysis of 104 randomized controlled trials on the effects of music concluded that music-based interventions have a positive impact on both physiological ( d = .380, 95% CI [0.30–0.47]) and psychological ( d = .545, 95% CI [0.43–0.66]) stress-related outcomes [ 10 ]. However, a large proportion of studies included in this meta-analysis were conducted in medical or therapeutic settings, and the included music-based interventions encompassed not only music listening but also music therapy. Thus, a more specific review to determine whether music listening alone is beneficial for the recovery of healthy individuals outside medical and therapeutic settings seemed justified.

To expand on the above considerations: stressors in medical or therapeutic settings (e.g., treatment anxiety, pregnancy, and labor) and their subsequent stress recovery processes can be difficult to generalize to more daily settings [ 10 – 13 ]. Next, with regards to music-based interventions, music listening simply involves listening to a particular song, while music therapy is characterized by the presence of a therapeutic process and use of personal music experiences, and thus must be performed by a trained music therapist [ 14 ]. In practice, music therapy may not only involve music listening, but also music playing, composing, songwriting, and interaction with music [ 10 , 14 ]. The effects of music therapy on stress appear to be more consistent compared to music listening [ 10 , 15 , 16 ]. Studies on music listening and stress recovery in healthy individuals are indeed equivocal: though music listening is considered beneficial for physiological stress recovery, several studies have reported no differences in heart rate, heart rate variability, respiration rate, blood pressure, or cortisol recovery between participants who listened to music and those who either sat in silence or listened to an auditory control [ 17 – 20 ]. Similarly, although music is notable for its anxiolytic effects, several studies have reported no significant differences in post-stressor anxiety between participants who listened to music and those who did not [ 3 , 18 , 21 ]. Taken together, it is currently difficult to draw definite conclusions about the effects of music listening on stress recovery in healthy individuals, particularly outside medical and therapeutic settings [ 15 , 22 ].

Therefore, to expand on previous reviews, we opted to conduct a systematic review with meta-analysis on experimental studies in healthy individuals, focusing specifically on the role of music listening in stress recovery. In our review, we focus specifically on experimental studies, under the assumption that greater control over study variables would help reduce between-study heterogeneity. Furthermore, considering the crucial role of stress recovery in preventing the long-term consequences of stress exposure [ 5 , 23 ], we believe the acute stress responses elicited by laboratory stressors would more closely approximate typical stress responses in daily life. The aim of our review was two-fold: through systematic review, we provide a comprehensive account of experimental studies examining the effect of music listening on stress recovery. Through meta-analysis, we assess the reliability of the effect of music listening on stress recovery, including the extent and impact of publication bias, and weigh-in on outstanding discussions within existing literature.

The stress response

The stress response can be conceptualized as a compensatory reaction aimed at mitigating the potential consequences of a stressor [ 24 , 25 ]. The stress response is best illustrated by the archetypal ‘fight-flight-freeze’ reaction: in the presence of a stressor, the brain initiates an elegant synergy of neuroendocrine, physiological, and psychological processes that serve to mobilize energy resources and direct attention towards prominent stimuli, with the aim of promoting appropriate and rapid action [ 26 , 27 ]. During a stress response, the autonomic nervous system (ANS) suppresses parasympathetic activity and promotes sympathetic exertion, resulting in marked increases in heart rate, respiration rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and salivary secretion of the dietary enzyme, alpha-amylase [ 27 – 31 ]. These changes are mediated by neuropeptides (e.g., corticotropin-releasing factor) and catecholamines (e.g., norepinephrine, dopamine) [ 24 , 25 ]. Simultaneous with ANS activity, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis begins a process which leads to a surge of cortisol production in the adrenal cortex [ 24 , 25 ]. Cortisol acts as a regulator of the stress response, whose effects occur in a temporally specific manner due to variations in corticosteroid receptor affinity and distribution throughout the body [ 24 , 26 , 32 ]. Cortisol may require up to 45 minutes to reach peak concentration levels, during which it binds to high-affinity corticosteroid receptors [ 24 ]. This process enables rapid, non-genomic effects that sustain ANS-mediated changes for the duration of the stressor, while suppressing immune system function [ 32 – 34 ]. This suppression is visible through lower concentrations of immunoglobulins, such as salivary immunoglobulin-A (s-IgA) [ 35 ].

The physiological changes triggered by the ANS and HPA axis are supplemented by psychological changes that motivate adaptive behaviours required to cope with the stressor [ 25 , 27 ]. For example, the unpleasant feeling one gets when experiencing anxiety and negative affect in response to a stressor is thought to prompt behaviours aimed at reducing these unpleasant states. Since psychological reactions to stressors are contingent on how individuals perceive, evaluate, and react to threats and challenges [ 36 ], self-reported measures of stress, anxiety, arousal, and emotion are common in psychological research on stress and its consequences [ 18 , 37 – 39 ].

Stress recovery

The stress response is considered adaptive when it is short-lived and immediately followed by a period of recovery following stressor cessation. In this period, ANS- and HPA-mediated changes that have occurred in response to a stressor revert to pre-stress baselines [ 24 , 25 , 27 ]. Therefore, stress recovery may be conceptualized as the process of unwinding that is opposite to the neuroendocrine, physiological, and psychological activation that occurs during the stress response [ 4 , 5 ]. Following a stress response, ANS-mediated changes quickly revert to pre-stress levels within 30 to 60 minutes [ 26 ]. This manifests as a restoration of parasympathetic activity, marked by a deceleration of heart rate and respiration rate, lower systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and less activity of salivary alpha-amylase [ 4 , 28 – 31 ]. This restoration of parasympathetic activity typically precedes any decline in cortisol. Instead, during the same window of time, cortisol levels will have just reached their peak, activating low-affinity corticosteroid receptors [ 40 ]. This process is thought to signal the termination of the stress response, as the binding of cortisol to low-affinity receptors inhibits further autonomic activation [ 24 , 26 ]. As cortisol levels begin to decrease, slow, cortisol-mediated genomic changes are initiated, which directly oppose the rapid effects of catecholamines and the non-genomic effects of cortisol [ 24 , 26 ]. Following a stressor, these genomic changes may take up to one hour to commence and may continue for several hours [ 24 , 26 ].

At a psychological level, stress recovery is typically experienced as a reduction of unpleasant states, which is often reflected by lower ratings of self-reported stress, anxiety, and negative affect, along with higher ratings of relaxation and positive affect [ 5 , 15 , 18 ]. However, it is worth noting that persistent, ruminative thoughts about a stressor may delay stress recovery by prolonging the physiological activation that occurs during the stress response [ 41 – 45 ]. Indeed, participants who reported higher rumination following a stress task demonstrated poorer heart rate, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and cortisol recovery compared to participants who did not [ 41 , 42 , 44 , 46 , 47 ].

Music listening and stress recovery

Within the current literature, music listening has frequently been related to various neuroendocrine, physiological, and psychological changes that are considered beneficial for stress recovery [ 10 , 11 , 15 , 22 ]. For example, music listening has been associated with lower heart rate [ 48 – 50 ], systolic blood pressure [ 21 , 49 , 51 ], skin conductance [ 17 , 19 , 52 , 53 ], and cortisol [ 54 , 55 ] compared to silence or an auditory control condition. Furthermore, music listening has been associated with higher parasympathetic activity [ 56 ] compared to silence [ 3 , 37 ]. Together, these findings suggest that music listening may generate beneficial changes in ANS and HPA axis activity that should be conducive to the stress recovery process [ 27 , 57 , 58 ]. Furthermore, studies have demonstrated that listening to music may influence mood [ 59 , 60 ]. Indeed, music listening has been associated with lower negative affect [ 37 ], higher positive affect [ 18 , 61 ], and fewer self-reported depressive symptoms [ 37 ] compared to silence or an auditory control condition. Music listening has also been associated with lower subjective stress [ 53 , 54 ], lower state anxiety [ 37 , 48 , 49 ], and higher perceived relaxation [ 17 , 48 , 62 ].

The exact mechanisms underlying the effects of music listening on stress recovery remain to be elucidated. Music-evoked positive emotions are thought to be particularly beneficial for stress recovery, as they may help undo the unfavourable changes wrought by negative emotions during stress, ultimately aiding the stress recovery process [ 63 ]. Alternatively, music-evoked emotions may promote a more robust, and thus more adaptive, stress response [ 61 ], which may be followed by an equally robust period of stress recovery. Next, it has been theorized that music may act as an anchor that draws attention away from post-stressor ruminative thoughts or negative affective states, thus preventing a lengthening of physiological activation, and facilitating a more regular stress recovery process [ 45 , 64 ]. Finally, physiological rhythms in our body, such as respiration, cardiovascular activity, and electroencephalographic activity, may become fully or partially synchronized with rhythmical elements perceived in music [ 65 – 68 ]. This rhythmic entrainment process is thought to occur via a bottom-up process that originates in the brainstem: salient musical features, such as tempo, pitch, and loudness, are continuously tracked by the brainstem, generating similar changes in ANS activity over time [ 69 , 70 ]. Indeed, studies have demonstrated that changes in a song’s musical envelope, which represents how a song unfolds over time, are closely followed by proportional changes in blood pressure and skin conductance [ 52 , 65 ]. Similarly, incremental changes in musical tempo, which represents the speed or pace of a song, were predictive of similar changes in heart rate, blood pressure, and respiration rate [ 71 – 73 ]. It is further hypothesized that the physiological changes resulting from rhythmic entrainment may evoke any number of associated emotions via proprioceptive feedback mechanisms [ 66 , 69 , 70 ]. Indeed, higher self-reported entrainment predicted increased positive affect, along with other self-reported emotional responses, such as transcendence, wonder, power, and tenderness [ 66 ].

Which music works best?

There are several ongoing discussions about potential moderating effects in the relationship between music listening and stress recovery. We briefly describe these effects below, and later contribute to the discussion through moderator analyses.

Classical music vs. other genres.

Classical music is considered the golden standard in many stress management efforts. Indeed, a copious amount of ‘anti-stress’ playlists often feature some selection of classical pieces. To discern which music best promotes stress recovery, studies have contrasted the effects of classical music with other musical genres, including rock [ 48 ], jazz and pop [ 21 ], and heavy metal [ 17 ]. We compare the effects of different musical genres in our moderator analysis.

Instrumental vs. lyrical.

It is commonly believed that instrumental, as opposed to lyrical music, would better promote stress recovery. However, several studies have argued that lyrics may act as a stronger distractor compared to the sound of instruments. Thus, lyrical music may be more effective than instrumental music in preventing the prolonged physiological activation that may occur due to ruminative thoughts [ 17 , 18 , 74 ]. We compare the effects of instrumental and lyrical music in our moderator analysis.

Self- vs. experimenter selected.

Studies on the effects of music often fail to consider the differential effects of self-selected (i.e., chosen by participants) and experimenter selected (i.e., chosen for participants by the experimenter) music [ 15 ]. It is hypothesized that allowing participants to select their own music may be more helpful to promote stress recovery due to a restoration of perceived control [ 15 ]. It has also been argued that individuals select music in service of personal self-regulatory goals [ 64 , 75 , 76 ], meaning that individuals know precisely which music to select for them to effectively recover from stress [ 38 , 77 ]. Furthermore, previous studies have found that listening to self-selected music may help elicit stronger and more positive emotional responses regardless of a song’s valence (positive or negative) and arousal (high or low), possibly due to increased preference and familiarity towards the self-selected music [ 78 – 80 ]. In theory, self-selected music should thus be more beneficial compared to experimenter-selected music for the purpose of stress recovery. We compare the effects of self- and experimenter selected music in our moderator analysis.

Fast vs. slow tempo.

Several studies have investigated whether listening to music with slower tempo will better facilitate stress recovery compared to music with faster tempo. For example, while listening to an instrumental song, proportional increases and decreases in tempo resulted in similar changes in participants’ heart rate [ 73 ]. Similarly, sequential decreases in tempo predicted greater increases in parasympathetic activity compared to sequential increases in tempo [ 71 ]. We investigate whether slower tempi differentially influence the effect of music listening on stress recovery in our moderator analysis.

The present review was designed following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocols (PRISMA-P) guidelines [ 81 ]. All materials relevant to this review, including: (a) the pre-registered study protocol; (b) an outline of the search strategy; (c) a list of screened articles with rationales for exclusion; (d) the meta-analysis data set with extracted data; and, (e) R code to replicate the analysis reported in this review, are available on the Open Science Framework ( https://osf.io/9pxhj ).

Study selection

The study selection process is summarized in Fig 1 . In April 2021, we conducted a comprehensive literature search for experimental studies on the effect of music listening on stress recovery. The search was conducted using RUQuest, the electronic search system of Radboud University library, which accesses several notable bibliographic databases, including MEDLINE, Wiley Online Library, ScienceDirect, SpringerLink, Taylor and Francis, and JSTOR. The results of this primary search were supplemented with three additional electronic searches in the publication databases of Web of Science, PsycINFO, and PubMed. Appendix A provides a complete description of our search terms. Together, this first step resulted in 3124 articles.

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Next, the first author (KA) screened all titles and abstracts for studies examining the effects of music listening on stress recovery. If there was any doubt about the eligibility of an article, it was retained for further review. During this initial screening, 3008 articles were excluded. KA then scanned the reference lists of the 116 remaining articles for potentially relevant studies, resulting in an additional three articles. Together, this second step resulted in 119 full-text reports to be assessed for eligibility.

Lastly, KA used the following criteria to assess full-text reports for eligibility:

First, to minimize between-study heterogeneity, and to ensure that included studies investigated the effects of music listening on stress recovery as precisely as possible, studies must employ an experimental design including stress induction, with random assignment of participants to experimental and control conditions. Quasi-experimental studies were included only when they incorporated a control or comparison group. Second, studies should compare music listening to silence or an auditory stimulus (e.g., white noise, audiobooks). To ensure that included studies tested the immediate effect of music listening on stress recovery, exposure to music, silence, or auditory stimuli must occur after the stress induction procedure. Third, to demonstrate this effect, studies must include at least one measure of neuroendocrine (e.g., cortisol), physiological (e.g., heart rate, blood pressure), or psychological (e.g., subjective stress, positive and negative affect) stress recovery outcome. Fourth, given that stress reactivity and recovery responses differ between children and adults, and with consideration to the potential role of music in the prevention of stress-related diseases in adults, studies must include healthy, adult, human participants. Fifth, to improve the generalization of our results in the context of daily stress recovery, studies where stress recovery occurred within a medical or therapeutic context, such as a hospital or operating room, were excluded. Finally, for the purpose of the meta-analysis, means and standard deviations of stress recovery outcomes following stressor cessation must be available. Corresponding authors were contacted when this information was not available. When authors did not or could not provide the required information (e.g., due to data no longer being accessible), outcomes were dropped from the meta-analysis. Following attempts to obtain missing information, the final sample for our review consisted of 14 studies.

Methodological moderators of interest

Several methodological differences were identified between included studies that may moderate the effect of music listening on stress recovery:

Stress induction procedures.

Studies utilized a diverse array of stress induction procedures. These include mental arithmetic tasks [e.g., 21 ], adaptations of the Trier Social Stress Task [e.g., 3 ], impromptu presentations [ 49 , e.g., 50 ], unpleasant stimuli [e.g., 82 ], cognitive tests [e.g., 48 ], or a CO 2 stress task [ 61 ]. Stress induction procedures may generally be classified based on the inclusion of a social-evaluative threat (SET) component, which are designed to induce psychosocial stress and have been shown to elicit greater cardiovascular and cortisol responses [ 83 ]. In the event of a greater stress response, the effects of music listening on stress recovery may be larger, since there may be a larger window for the stress recovery process to occur. We examined this possibility in our moderator analysis.

Stress induction checks.

Stress induction procedures in included studies were not always successful. Given that successful stress induction procedures are crucial to ensure that participants experience some physiological or psychological change they may recover from, in our moderator analysis we examined whether the effect of music listening on stress recovery differed based on the outcome of a study’s stress induction check (manipulation check).

Type of outcome.

Studies adopted numerous outcome measures as indicators of stress recovery. These include indicators related to ANS and HPA axis activity, such as heart rate [e.g., 49 ], heart rate variability [e.g., 3 ], blood pressure [e.g., 84 ], respiration rate [e.g., 17 ], skin conductance [ 58 ], salivary cortisol [e.g., 54 ], salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) [e.g., 38 ], and salivary immunoglobulin-A (sIgA) [e.g., 85 ], as well as indicators for psychological consequences of the stress response, such as subjective stress [e.g., 18 ], perceived relaxation [e.g., 17 ], state anxiety [e.g., 21 ], rumination [e.g., 18 ], and affect [e.g., 37 ]. In our moderator analysis, we examined whether the effects of music listening on stress recovery differed across general (neuroendocrine, physiological, psychological) and specific outcome types.

Duration of music.

Studies differed with regards to how long participants listened to music following stressor cessation. This duration ranged from two minutes [e.g., 53 ] to forty-five minutes [e.g., 54 ]. We examined whether the effect of music listening on stress recovery differed based on duration of music listening.

Data extraction, moderator coding, and quality assessment

KA extracted means, standard deviations, and total participants per condition for each stress recovery outcome. When these statistics were not included in text, but informative graphs were provided, KA used an open-source program to extract data from the graphs [ 86 ]. Coding criteria for each moderator can be found in Table 1 . The ‘141–160 bpm’, ‘unsuccessful’, ‘salivary IgA’, and ‘salivary alpha-amylase’ moderator levels were ultimately not included in the meta-analysis due to unavailable information.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0270031.t001

Next, KA assessed the quality of included studies using the revised Cochrane risk of bias tool for randomized trials (RoB 2) [ 87 ]. Based on criteria in the RoB 2, studies with low risk of bias were considered high quality, while those with some concerns and high risk of bias were considered moderate and low quality respectively. Fig 2 summarizes the results of the quality assessment procedure.

All studies were of overall moderate quality due to little-to-no information on pre-specification of analysis plans, making it difficult to fully rule out any bias that may occur due to selection of reported results.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0270031.g002

Based on the RoB 2, all included studies were of moderate quality due to unavailable information on pre-specification of analysis plans. Thus, it was difficult to completely rule out bias that may have occurred due to a selection of reported results. Since the quality of included studies was homogenous, study quality was thus not included in our moderator analysis. An exploratory analysis with less stringent criteria, where potential risk of bias from selection of reported results is not included in our quality assessment procedure, is reported in Appendix B.

Data extraction, moderator coding, and quality assessment were conducted by KA in coordination with DB and MvH. Disagreements were resolved through face-to-face discussions, or through consultation with SG and KR when no consensus could be reached.

Meta-analytic approach

Effect size index..

We calculated Hedges’ g for each comparison using the escalc function of the metafor package [ 88 ] in R 3.6.3 [ 89 ]. In the present study, a Hedges’ g of zero indicates the effect of music listening on stress recovery is equivalent to silence or an auditory control. Conversely, a Hedges’ g greater than zero indicates the degree to which music listening is more effective than control, while a g less than zero indicates the degree to which music listening is less effective than control. The effect sizes are reported in Table 2 .

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0270031.t002

Meta-analytic approach.

Due to use of multiple stress recovery outcomes, eleven out of fourteen studies included in the meta-analysis contributed multiple effect sizes of interest. To deal with the statistical dependency caused by the inclusion of multiple effect sizes from the same study, we use a combination of multivariate meta-regression [ 90 ] and robust variance estimation (RVE) [ 91 ] to estimate overall effect sizes and conduct moderator analyses. Although we believe our approach using RVE was the most suitable for our data, we also calculated overall effect sizes using the aggregation method outlined in Borenstein et al. [ 92 ], and random-effects meta-analyses without correcting for dependencies. These yielded estimates that were nearly identical to those generated by our approach and were therefore not reported.

Outlier detection.

Currently, methods to identify outliers in meta-regression models with RVE are not yet available. Therefore, we first fit a random-effects meta-regression model without correcting for dependencies between effect sizes. Values for influential case diagnostics (e.g., covariance ratios, Cook’s distance, studentized residuals) were subsequently requested using the ‘influence’ function of the ‘metafor’ package [ 88 ]. As this approach does not fully consider the nature of dependencies between effect sizes from each study, the results of this analysis were treated as a sensitivity analysis for the estimated overall effect of music listening on stress recovery. All extracted effect sizes were retained in further analyses.

Test of overall effect and moderators.

To estimate the overall effect of music listening on stress recovery, we fit an intercept-only, random-effects meta-regression model with RVE using the ‘robu’ function of the ‘robumeta’ package [ 93 ]. The intercept estimated by this model can be interpreted as the precision-weighted overall effect size which has been corrected for dependencies. We used a similar approach to estimate cumulative effect sizes at each level of each moderator. For cases where a level of a moderator had too few observations for the RVE approach, we calculated cumulative effect sizes by fitting a random-effects meta-regression using the ‘rma.mv’ function of the ‘metafor’ package [ 88 ].

Prior to conducting moderator analyses, categorical moderators (e.g., ‘Genre’) were dummy coded, while the continuous moderator ‘Duration’ was left as is. For cases where the categorical moderator only had two levels, moderator variables were entered into separate meta-regression equations using the RVE approach. The significance test of the regression coefficient for the predictor variable in the meta-regression equation was interpreted as a test of whether the variable was a significant moderator. We used the same approach to test the effect of continuous moderators. For cases where the categorical moderator had more than two levels, moderator variables were entered into separate random-effects meta-regression models. This yielded QM and QE statistics: the QM statistic indicated whether there was a significant difference among all levels of the tested moderator, while the QE statistic indicated whether there were significant amounts of residual heterogeneity after accounting for the effect of the moderator [ 94 ].

Publication bias.

The most common method to assess publication bias in meta-analytic data sets with dependent effect sizes is to aggregate individual effect sizes from the same study, and subsequently perform standard publication bias tests on the aggregated estimates. Therefore, we first aggregated individual effect sizes using the ‘agg’ function of the ‘MAd’ package [ 95 ]. The ‘agg’ function calculates aggregated effect size and variance estimates using formulas specified in Borenstein et al. [ 92 ]. These aggregated estimates were then used to assess publication bias by means of: (a) Egger’s regression of funnel plot asymmetry [ 96 ]; (b) a trim-and-fill analysis [ 97 ]; and (c) PET-PEESE models [ 98 ].

Overall, the analyses comprised s = 14 studies, from which k = 90 effect sizes were calculated. The cumulative sample size of these studies was N = 706, while individual sample sizes ranged from 12–143 participants, with a mean of approximately 68 participants per study.

Overall effect

Based on a meta-regression with RVE, the estimated overall effect of music listening on stress recovery was g = 0.15, 95% CI [-0.21, 0.52], t (13) = 0.92, p = 0.374. This estimate suggests that, taking all variations in music and outcomes into consideration, the effect of music listening on stress recovery is equivalent to silence or an auditory control.

Outlier detection

Using the ‘influence’ function of the ‘metafor’ package [ 88 ], one influential outlier in the negative direction was detected [ 18 ]. The overall effect of music listening on stress recovery with outlier removed was g = 0.18, 95% CI [-0.18, 0.54], t (13) = 1.08, p = 0.300. The full meta-analytic data set was retained in subsequent analyses.

Moderator analyses

There was significant heterogeneity of effect sizes ( T 2 = 0.71, I 2 = 89.29) from each study, which suggests that meaningful differences may exist among studies that could be further explored through moderator analyses. Cumulative effect size estimates at each level of each moderator, along with their respective significance tests, are reported in Table 3 .

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0270031.t003

Our results suggest that the effect of music listening on stress recovery may differ across musical genres, QM (4) = 27.19, p < .001. Despite this, it is difficult to further elaborate on these differences as the individual estimated effects of pop ( g = 0.317, 95% CI [0.09, 0.53], p = .025) and jazz music ( g = 0.137, 95% CI [0.00, 0.27], p = .049) were derived from single studies, while the estimates for classical ( g = 0.431, 95% CI [-0.03, 0.88], p = .059) and heavy metal music ( g = -0.076, 95% CI [-0.64, 0.48], p = .619), along with music collapsed into the ‘unspecified’ category ( g = 0.067, 95% CI [-0.42, 0.56], p = .765), were non-significant. Residual heterogeneity was statistically significant, QE (67) = 1147.43, p < .001.

The effects of music listening on stress recovery did not differ between lyrical music ( g = 0.159, 95% CI [-1.13, 1.45], p = .362), instrumental music ( g = 0.194, 95% CI [-0.22, 0.65], p = .273), and music with ‘unspecified’ lyrical presence ( g = 0.151, 95% CI [-0.46, 0.78], p = .581), QM (2) = 3.44, p = .179. Residual heterogeneity was statistically significant, QE (69) = 1171.95, p < .001.

Our results suggest that there may be differences in magnitude between the effect of self-selected, pseudo self-selected, and experimenter selected music on stress recovery, QM (2) = 19.13, p < .001. However, these differences were difficult to expand on since the estimated effect of pseudo self-selected music (i.e., self-selected music from a list composed by experimenters) was derived from only one study ( g = 0.377, 95% CI [0.27, 0.48], p = .004), while the estimated effects of self-selected ( g = 0.336, 95% CI [-0.29, 0.96], p = .226) and experimenter selected music ( g = 0.030, 95% CI [-0.33, 0.45], p = .874) were non-significant. Residual heterogeneity was statistically significant, QE (69) = 1139.39, p < .001.

Our results suggest that the effects of music listening on stress recovery may differ in magnitude based on musical tempo, QM (5) = 43.66, p < .001. However, little can be said about these differences since the estimated effects of music at 80 bpm or below ( g = 0.084, 95% CI [-0.06, 0.23], p = .086), 81–100 bpm ( g = 0.497, 95% CI [-0.62, 1.62], p = .197), 101–120 bpm ( g = -0.260, 95% CI [-11.3, 10.8], p = .815), 121–140 bpm ( g = 0.067, 95% CI [-1.58, 1.71], p = .696), 161 bpm and above ( g = -0.020, 95% CI [-1.33, 1.29], p = .870), and ‘unspecified’ tempo ( g = 0.235, 95% CI [-0.26, 0.73], p = .301) were non-significant. Residual heterogeneity was statistically significant, QE (67) = 1128.90, p < .001.

Stress induction procedure.

There were no significant differences in the effects of music listening on stress recovery between studies whose stress induction procedures included SET ( g = 0.319, 95% CI [-0.15, 0.79], p = .154) and those without SET ( g = -0.141, 95% CI [-0.90, 0.62], p = .636), β 1 = -0.450, p = .218.

There were no significant differences in the effects of music listening on stress recovery for studies with successful ( g = 0.173, 95% CI [-0.26, 0.61], p = .399) and unreported ( g = 0.062, 95% CI [-0.08, 0.20], p = .115) stress induction checks, β 1 = -0.108, p = .661.

Our results suggest that the effects of music listening on stress recovery may differ between neuroendocrine, physiological, and psychological outcomes QM (2) = 164.22, p < .001. These differences were challenging to further expand on since the estimated effects of music listening for neuroendocrine ( g = -0.004, 95% CI [-14.6, 14.6], p = .794), physiological ( g = 0.135, 95% CI [-0.39, 0.67], p = .585), and psychological ( g = 0.298, 95% CI [-0.11, 0.71], p = .127) stress recovery outcomes were not statistically significant. We noted a similar pattern when comparing the effects of music listening between specific stress recovery outcomes: the magnitude of the effect of music listening may vary across stress recovery outcomes, QM (18) = 545.09, p < .001, but estimated effects per outcome were non-significant ( Table 3 ). Residual heterogeneity was statistically significant despite the inclusion of general outcome type ( QE (69) = 1018.57, p < .001) and specific outcome measure ( QE (53) = 629.144, p < .001) as moderators.

There was no evidence that the effect of music listening on stress recovery may differ depending on how long participants were exposed to music, β 1 = -0.005, p = .870 ( range duration = 2–45 minutes).

To further illustrate the methodological heterogeneity among experimental studies on the effect of music listening on stress recovery, we provide a more extensive, qualitative overview of the included studies in Appendix C. A summary of this overview is presented in Table 4 .

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0270031.t004

Publication bias

To visually assess the extent of publication bias, the aggregated effect size estimates in our meta-analytic data set were first used to create a plot of the estimates and their standard errors. In the absence of publication bias, this pattern should resemble a funnel, where effect size estimates with smaller standard errors cluster around the mean effect size, while effect size estimates with larger standard errors spread out in both directions. A common pattern which suggests publication bias is asymmetry in the bottom of the plot. Fig 3 presents the funnel plot of the aggregated effect sizes.

The small number of studies renders it difficult to visually inspect asymmetry, and thus precludes an accurate assessment of publication bias.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0270031.g003

Given the limited number of studies included in the meta-analysis ( n = 14), an accurate visual assessment of asymmetry was difficult. Thus, to supplement our visual inspection of the funnel plot, we conducted a trim-and-fill analysis, which trims the values of extreme estimates that may lead to asymmetry in the funnel plot and imputes values to balance out the distribution. No studies were imputed by the trim-and-fill analysis. Additionally, an Egger’s regression for funnel plot asymmetry using the aggregated effect sizes failed to detect significant evidence of publication bias ( t (12) = 1.26, p = 0.231). Lastly, both PET ( β 1 = 2.63, p = 0.311) and PEESE ( β 1 = 3.87, p = 0.356) models were not statistically significant. Taken together, based on the aggregated effect sizes, the different methods of publication bias detection suggest that there is no evidence of publication bias. However, considering the small number of included studies and the significant heterogeneity of our meta-analytic data set, firm conclusions about the extent of publication bias within the current literature on the effects of music listening and stress recovery are difficult to make.

Music listening has the potential to fulfill the promise of effective stress recovery in healthy individuals. However, cumulative evidence from 17 experimental studies suggests that support for the beneficial effect of music listening on stress recovery is currently lacking: for healthy individuals, the effect of music listening on stress recovery may be equivalent to that of other auditory stimuli, or even merely sitting in silence. Furthermore, the effect of music listening on stress recovery is heterogeneous, and moderator analyses suggest the effect may differ in magnitude according to musical genre, whether music is self-selected, musical tempo, and type of stress recovery outcome. Despite this, the limited number of available studies makes it difficult to draw further conclusions from these analyses.

Overall effects of music listening on stress recovery

The results of our review contrast those of previous meta-analyses, which underscore the relevance of music-based interventions for stress-reduction [ 10 , 11 ]. While previous reviews suggest that music-based interventions may be moderately beneficial for stress-related outcomes, particularly in medical and therapeutic settings, our results suggest that the magnitude of this effect outside of these settings, particularly for healthy individuals under acute, experimentally induced stress, may be more modest. We presume that one of the principal reasons for this difference was our decision to exclude studies conducted in medical and therapeutic settings. In previous reviews, randomized controlled trials of the effects of music-based interventions within medical and therapeutic settings constituted a large portion of included studies: 67 of 79 (85%) studies in de Witte et al. [ 10 ], and 15 of 22 (68%) studies in Pelletier [ 11 ], making it more likely that overall effect sizes were derived from studies conducted within these settings. Tentatively, the effects of music listening may be more prominent for the stress recovery of individuals in medical or therapeutic contexts, compared to that of individuals under acute stress in an experimental context. Whereas the time course of stress responses and stress recovery in experimental settings can be considered relatively brief [ 24 , 26 , 40 , 83 ], the time course of stress responses and stress recovery within medical and therapeutic settings may be significantly more protracted [ 12 , 13 ]. Thus, within medical and therapeutic settings, music may be exerting its influence on neuroendocrine, physiological, and psychological processes that have been subjected to longer periods of strain [ 27 , 99 ].

Furthermore, the difference in overall estimated effect sizes may be attributed to differences in the breadth of music activities encompassed by our review and that of de Witte et al. [ 10 ]: whereas we included studies in which participants merely listened to music following a stressor, de Witte et al. [ 10 ] also included music therapy, along with other unspecified music activities. We speculate that the effect of music on stress recovery may differ depending on whether music is merely listened to, performed, or used within a music therapy setting. However, studies comparing the stress recovery effects of these various music activities are rare [ 15 , 58 ]. Thus, future investigations into the differential effect of these music activities may therefore provide a more comprehensive picture of the effects of music on stress recovery.

Potential moderating effects

Our review highlights the considerable methodological variety between studies investigating the effects of music listening on stress recovery. This is particularly concerning given the modest number of experimental studies on music listening and stress recovery in current literature. Although we investigated the impact of these methodological differences through moderator analyses, many of the estimated effects at each level of each moderator were either non-significant or originated from single studies. Taken together, meaningful interpretations for these moderating effects are difficult to make. Therefore, for each significant moderator, we instead provide several recommendations for future research, which we believe may help delineate the effects of these potential moderators.

Musical genre.

Although comparisons between musical genres seem relatively straightforward, investigating the differential effects of musical genres may be particularly challenging: the conceptualization of musical genres, along with the songs they encompass, tends to be somewhat arbitrary [ 69 , 75 , 100 , 101 ]. Indeed, studies display considerable variation in musical stimuli, even within the same genre ( Table 4 ). A notable example of this is the study by Sandstrom and Russo [ 53 ], which utilized four ‘classical’ songs, each at different extremes of valence and arousal. It should also be considered that new music is continuously being released which may not completely fit with the definition of any existing genre [ 9 ].

As such, an alternative approach to the investigation of musical genre involves describing these genres according to their musical features, such as tempo, timbre, and loudness, and subsequently investigating the effects of these individual musical features on stress recovery [ 9 , 101 ]. For example, classical music may be described as rhythmically complex, with mellow timbre and fluctuating loudness. Comparatively, though equally rhythmically complex, heavy metal possesses sharper timbre and more pronounced loudness. Investigating the differential effects of these musical features on stress recovery may provide relevant insight into the differential effects of listening to various musical genres on stress recovery.

Self- versus experimenter selection.

In investigating the effects of self- versus experimenter selected music on stress recovery in healthy individuals, studies typically request participants to select music they consider ‘relaxing’ prior to an experiment [ 3 , 17 , 18 ]. Although this approach is viable, it precludes the potential role of perceived control in the relationship between music listening and stress recovery, since allowing participants to self-select their own music may already be helpful for stress recovery due to a restoration of perceived control [ 15 ]. Our results were not able to provide a significant contribution to this discussion, as hardly any experimental studies in our review have attempted to account for the potential effects of perceived control. As such, when contrasting the effects of self- and experimenter selected music on stress recovery, future studies may benefit from the inclusion of perceived control as an additional variable in their theoretical models.

It should also be noted that allowing participants to self-select their own music will result in a considerable variety of musical stimuli. Given that each of these musical stimuli may possess a different combination of musical features, the use of self-selected music may generate confounding effects that should preferably be accounted for. Arguably, self-selected music may produce consistent effects on stress-recovery regardless of underlying musical features, given that individuals tend to select music in service of personal self-regulatory goals [ 64 , 75 , 76 ]. However, given that variations in specific musical features, such as tempo, pitch, and loudness have been related to various physiological (e.g., heart rate) [ 73 ] and psychological stress recovery outcomes (e.g., positive and negative affect) [ 100 – 102 ], future studies may benefit from ensuring that musical features are consistent between self- and experimenter selected musical stimuli. This may be done, for instance, by comparing expert ratings of musical features [ 18 ]. Alternatively, there may be value in allowing participants to self-select music from a list provided by experimenters [ 21 ], as this would allow experimenters to standardize musical features a-priori, which may further help disentangle the effects of music listening from that of perceived control.

The comparison of musical features between self-selected and experimenter selected music may also offer a more nuanced perspective on the role of preference and familiarity. Specifically, preferences and familiarity towards certain songs could be described in terms of specific (combinations of) musical features. For example, an individual may prefer music with slow tempo, mellow timbre, and moderate loudness. This approach is often leveraged by music recommender systems, such as those implemented by music streaming platforms (e.g., Spotify, Deezer, Apple Music, etc.), with the goal of recommending songs that listeners are likely to engage with. Future studies could investigate the extent to which preference and familiarity might differ between self-selected and experimenter selected music with similar combinations of musical features, to further clarify the role of selection in the relationship between music listening and stress recovery.

Musical tempo.

The systematic review portion of our results demonstrates that no studies have directly compared the effect of different musical tempi on stress recovery in healthy individuals. As such, the most straightforward approach to delineate the effects of musical tempo on stress recovery would be to adopt procedures in which participants listen to the same musical stimulus post-stressor, which is then varied in tempo across experimental conditions. Furthermore, even when the goal of a particular study on music listening and stress recovery is not to clarify the effects of musical tempo, we suggest that tempo values for each musical stimulus should be noted down and reported, as this would facilitate the comparison of the differential effects of musical tempo on stress recovery in future meta-synthesis of the literature.

Alternatively, the notion that music with slow tempo is more beneficial for stress recovery compared to music with fast tempo is supported by the assumption that physiological parameters will entrain to musical rhythms [ 63 , 68 ]. As such, a more accurate approach to investigate the effects of musical tempo on stress recovery would be to leverage the dynamic, temporal nature of both music and physiological parameters through use of non-linear analyses of continuous data [ 52 , 103 ]. For example, cross-recurrence quantification analysis (CRQA) [ 104 , 105 ] may enable future studies to quantify the magnitude and duration of rhythmic entrainment for each participant. These indexes of magnitude and duration could then be compared between different musical tempi. Studies have utilized CRQA to investigate cardiac entrainment between participants of collective rituals [ 106 ] and the entrainment of an audience’s heart rate to a live musical performance [ 107 ]. This analytical approach may therefore yield a more nuanced understanding of the effect of musical tempo on the recovery of autonomic parameters.

Stress recovery outcomes.

During short-term stress responses, catecholamine- and cortisol-mediated stress responses follow temporally specific patterns: catecholamines rapidly exert their influence on ANS activity, and these changes tend to normalize within 30–60 minutes [ 26 ]. Meanwhile, decreases in cortisol that may be attributed to stress recovery will only become noticeable after recovery-related changes in autonomic activity have begun to occur [ 24 ]. As such, to further clarify the effect of music listening on various stress recovery outcomes, we recommend future studies to be more sensitive towards the innate, intricate, and temporally specific changes of each stress recovery outcome.

Furthermore, multiple studies included in our review have opted to analyze continuous data by means of multivariate analyses of variance, after averaging participants’ observed stress recovery outcomes at multiple time points (e.g., pre-stress, post-stress, post-recovery). Although this approach is practical, doing so may over-simplify the complex changes that may occur during the stress response and subsequent stress recovery, such as the temporal dynamics of different physiological responses [ 52 ] and emotion regulation strategies [ 108 ]. As such, we again suggest future studies to utilize non-linear analyses of data when appropriate, particularly when investigating the effects of music listening on the recovery of autonomic activity post-stressor. The idea of using non-linear analyses, such as time-series analysis, to investigate the stress recovery process is not new [ 5 ]. However, few studies on music listening and stress recovery have utilized this analytical approach.

Additional recommendations

Two studies with unreported stress induction procedures were still included in the review [ 17 , 84 ], as reported means for certain recovery outcomes still suggested an increase from baseline that participants could recover from. For example, with the information reported in Gan et al. [ 84 ], assuming a correlation of 0.5 between baseline and post-stressor measures of state anxiety, we estimated that their stress induction procedure elicited a significant increase in state anxiety in their sedative music ( t (34) = 5.87, p < .001, m diff = 8.17, SD diff = 8.24), stimulative music ( t (34) = 8.21, p < .001, m diff = 12.42, SD diff = 8.95), and control ( t (34) = 13.15, p < .001, m diff = 15.83, SD diff = 7.12) conditions. As the overall estimated effect of music listening on the recovery process of healthy individuals following laboratory stressors may be relatively modest, it becomes particularly important to ensure that a sufficient stress response is elicited, to provide a larger window of opportunity in which the effect of music listening may be exerted on participants’ recovery processes. We thus encourage future studies to adopt validated, (variations of) well-known stress tasks, such as the TSST [ 109 ], SECPT [ 110 ], or CO2 stress task [ 111 ], which have been demonstrated to consistently elicit marked physiological and psychological stress-related responses in laboratory settings. Furthermore, we remind future studies to candidly report the results of their stress induction procedures to facilitate subsequent meta-syntheses of the effects of music listening on stress recovery.

As the current review focused on the effects of music listening after a stressor, studies where music was played before or during a stressor were omitted from our analyses. However, several studies suggest that the timing at which music is played (i.e., before, during, or after a stressor) may influence its effects on stress recovery. For example, in Burns et al. [ 48 ], participants who listened to classical music while anticipating a stressful task exhibited lower post-music heart rate compared to participants who anticipated the stressor in silence. Similarly, concentrations of salivary cortisol were lower for participants who watched a stressful visual stimulus while listening to music compared to those who watched the same stimulus without music [ 112 ]. Together, these findings hint that, when listened during a stressor, music may attenuate cortisol responses [ 9 , 113 ], thus reducing the subsequent need for recovery. On the other hand, Thoma et al. [ 9 ] reported that participants who listened to music prior to a stressor exhibited higher post-stressor cortisol compared to participants who listened to an audio control. Interestingly, despite the stronger stress response, Thoma et al. [ 9 ] noted a trend for quicker ANS recovery among participants who listened to music, particularly with regards to salivary alpha-amylase activity. This pattern of findings is consistent with the notion forwarded by Koelsch et al. [ 61 ], in that music listening may promote a more adaptive stress response, thus facilitating subsequent stress recovery processes. To date, research on timing differences in the context of music listening and stress recovery is scarce. Thus, future studies could further examine the influence of such timing differences to better understand their role in the relationship between music listening and stress recovery.

Given the pervasiveness of stress, Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) studies may provide a more intimate outlook on the dynamics of daily music listening behaviour, particularly for the purpose of stress recovery. For example, through an ambulatory assessment study, Linnemann et al. [ 38 ] revealed that music produced the most notable reductions in physiological and psychological stress outcomes when it was listened to for the purpose of ‘relaxation’, compared to other reasons such as ‘distraction’, ‘activation’, and ‘reducing boredom’. Indeed, given their high ecological validity, EMA studies may provide further insight into important contextual variables in the relationship between music listening and stress recovery. For example, in an EMA study, listening to music in the presence of others was related to decreased subjective stress, attenuated cortisol secretion, and higher activity of salivary alpha-amylase [ 55 ]. Furthermore, physiological responses to music may co-vary between members of a dyad when music is listened to by couples [ 114 ]. Thus, given the benefits of EMA studies, we invite future studies to continue exploring the dynamics and contextual factors of music listening behaviour for stress recovery in daily life.

Lastly, we encourage studies to support open science research practices, and to clearly report statistical information that may be relevant for meta-syntheses (e.g., means and standard deviations per time point, per experimental condition, etc.). Additionally, based on our assessment of study quality using the RoB 2, pre-registration of analysis plans can be helpful to ensure that the conducted study is of overall high quality. Next, we encourage studies to note down which specific musical stimuli were used, particularly those self-selected by participants [ 69 , 99 ], as this enables future exploratory analyses of structural commonalities between different musical stimuli. Musical features from individual songs may be extracted by means of audio information extraction packages, such as MIRtoolbox [ 115 ]. Alternatively, individual song titles may be used to query related meta-data from online databases of various music streaming platforms. This meta-data can subsequently be used to obtain additional insight into the effects of music listening on stress recovery.

Limitations of the current review

To our knowledge, our review is the first to comprehensively investigate the effect of music listening on stress recovery within healthy individuals. Given the explicit focus of our review, our meta-analytic data set excluded the more prominent effects of music listening in both medical and therapeutic settings [ 12 , 13 ], allowing us to obtain results that are tentatively more representative of daily stress recovery processes. Despite this, the present review is not without its limitations:

First, although the specific focus of our review has allowed us to obtain a portrait of the effects of music listening on stress recovery in well-controlled experimental settings, the results of our review may be difficult to generalize to situations in which individuals experience prolonged stress responses. Stress induction procedures in experimental studies are designed to elicit acute stress responses that are meant to subside upon conclusion of an experiment [ 83 ]. Although we believe these procedures provide a suitable approximation of typical stressors in daily life, certain stressors in daily life may also persist for a longer time. The manner and magnitude in which music listening influences prolonged stress responses may potentially differ from the way music influences acute, laboratory-induced stress responses [ 18 , 45 ]. However, studies investigating the effect of music listening on stress recovery in the long-term are particularly rare.

Next, despite our best efforts to obtain relevant meta-analytic information from all studies selected for our review, our meta-analytic data set was ultimately constructed from a subset of fourteen studies. Although the subset allowed us to extract sufficient information to estimate an overall effect of music listening on stress recovery, several estimated effects at moderator level were derived from merely one or two studies (see Table 3 ). This precluded us from drawing further, meaningful conclusions about the results of our moderator analyses.

Finally, despite our clear focus on the effects of music listening on stress recovery within healthy individuals, there was substantial heterogeneity in our meta-analytic data set that could not be fully explained by the inclusion of moderators. Although the systematic review portion of our results highlighted potential additional sources of between-study heterogeneity, these additional sources could not be evaluated in our meta-analytic data set. We note, for example, that all studies utilized different musical stimuli to investigate the effect of music listening on stress recovery (see Table 4 ). The differential effects of these musical stimuli were difficult to account for in our meta-analysis, given the limited number of included studies. Overall, the significant heterogeneity in our meta-analytic data set suggests that our moderator analyses should be interpreted with caution.

Studies commonly suggest that listening to music may have a positive influence on stress recovery. Based on cumulative evidence from 90 effect sizes in 14 studies, it may be premature to firmly conclude whether music listening is beneficial for the stress recovery of healthy individuals. The present review underscores the necessity for further and finer research into the effects of music, bearing the potential role of various moderators, such as musical genre, self-selection, musical tempo, and different stress recovery outcomes, to fully comprehend the nuanced effects of music listening on short-term stress recovery.

Search strategy

Using the advanced search feature within RUQuest, Web of Science, and PsycINFO, the following syntax was used so that the search returned results if keywords were found within the title, abstract, or keywords of relevant publications:

ti: ( music * OR “ music listening ”) AND (( stress * OR strain OR recover * OR relax * OR fatigue OR “ heart rate ” OR “ heart rate variability ” OR “ blood pressure ” OR cardiovascular OR physiological OR cortisol OR “ perseverative cognition ” OR ruminat * OR detachment OR distract * OR worry * OR emotion * OR affect * OR mood OR burnout OR depress *) NOT ( patient OR disease OR surgery OR operating OR theat ?? OR disorder OR clinical OR stroke OR animal OR dent* OR material OR recogni* OR recommend *))

ab: ( music * OR “ music listening ”) AND (( stress * OR strain OR recover * OR relax * OR fatigue OR “ heart rate ” OR “ heart rate variability ” OR “ blood pressure ” OR cardiovascular OR physiological OR cortisol OR “ perseverative cognition ” OR ruminat * OR detachment OR distract * OR worry * OR emotion * OR affect * OR mood OR burnout OR depress *) NOT ( patient OR disease OR surgery OR operating OR theat ?? OR disorder OR clinical OR stroke OR animal OR dent* OR material OR recogni* OR recommend *))

kw: ( music * OR “ music listening ”) AND (( stress * OR strain OR recover * OR relax * OR fatigue OR “ heart rate ” OR “ heart rate variability ” OR “ blood pressure ” OR cardiovascular OR physiological OR cortisol OR “ perseverative cognition ” OR ruminat * OR detachment OR distract * OR worry * OR emotion * OR affect * OR mood OR burnout OR depress *) NOT ( patient OR disease OR surgery OR operating OR theat ?? OR disorder OR clinical OR stroke OR animal OR dent* OR material OR recogni* OR recommend *))

Exploratory moderator analysis with study quality

Based on the RoB 2, all studies in the meta-analysis were of moderate quality, since the lack of pre-specified analysis plans from included studies made it difficult to completely rule out bias from the selection of reported results. Exploratorily, we conducted a less stringent assessment of study quality assuming all studies contained no bias due to selection of results. Based on this assessment, 7 (50%) of the included studies were high quality, while the remaining were moderate quality.

Following our procedure for moderator analyses, we conducted an additional random-effects meta-regression with RVE to test whether the estimated effect of music listening on stress recovery was stable across studies of different quality. The meta-regression suggests that study quality is a significant moderator of the effect of music listening on stress recovery, QM (1) = 41.95, p < .001. The estimated effect of music listening on stress recovery in high quality studies was g = 0.178, 95% CI [0.00, 0.35], p = .046, while the estimated effect of music in moderate quality studies was g = 0.102, 95% CI [-0.14, 0.35], p = .041.

Stress induction procedures

In our meta-analysis, we generally distinguished between stress induction procedures with- or without a socio-evaluative threat component. However, specific stress induction procedures varied considerably between studies, as described below:

Arithmetic tasks.

Four studies utilized arithmetic tasks to induce stress in participants. These tasks included single- and double-digit mental arithmetic operations [ 17 ], mental arithmetic operations “with harassment” [ 18 , 21 ], and standardized mathematic tests [ 84 ].

Trier Social Stress Task (with modifications).

One study [ 54 ] followed the standard administration protocol of the Trier Social Stress Task (TSST) [ 109 , 116 ]. Two studies modified the TSST [ 109 ] by having participants prepare and deliver their presentations in front of a camera instead of a panel of judges [ 3 , 37 ], while the subsequent mental arithmetic task was replaced by the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT) [ 117 ], administered through a laptop. One study administered the TSST with a shorter mental arithmetic component [ 118 ], while two studies omitted the TSST’s speech delivery component [ 119 , 120 ].

Anticipation.

One study made use of anticipation to induce stress [ 50 ], where participants were asked to prepare an impromptu presentation that would be videotaped at the end of a preparation period. Participants were eventually not required to deliver the prepared presentation.

Unpleasant stimuli.

Two studies exposed participants to unpleasant stimuli as a means of inducing stress. These unpleasant stimuli were either auditory [ 82 ] or visual [ 19 ] in nature.

CO 2 stress task.

One study utilized the CO 2 Stress Task [ 61 ]. In this task, as a an acute physiological stressor, participants were instructed to take a single, vital-capacity breath of air containing 35% carbon dioxide and 65% oxygen [ 111 ].

The duration of each stress induction procedure varied according to procedure category. The longest stress induction procedures (15 minutes) typically involved (variations of) the TSST (e.g., [ 37 ]. Conversely, the shortest procedure (90 seconds) was the exposure to unpleasant noise in Nakajima et al. [ 82 ], as their experimental design involved repeated presentation of the stressor to participants. Finally, it is also worth noting that among studies which reported successful stress induction procedures (see Table 2 ), the magnitude of resulting stress responses was often not reported.

Selection of musical stimuli

All studies held a general assumption that ‘relaxing’ music would best promote stress recovery. However, studies utilized different strategies in selecting ‘relaxing’ music, resulting in considerable variation in musical stimuli between studies. These strategies are listed below:

Sampling from available music.

Four studies utilized a relatively straightforward strategy in selecting music—musical stimuli were sampled from songs commonly found on ‘relaxing’, either from their inclusion in anti-stress cassettes [ 21 , 54 ], coverage in popular media [ 120 ], or the researcher’s opinion [ 118 ].

Referencing prior studies.

Three studies selected music that, in prior studies, seemed to have positive effects on heart rate, respiration rate, perceived arousal, and perceived relaxation. One study made reference to pilot studies [ 82 ], while the remaining two cited previous published work by the same authors [ 19 , 50 ].

Theoretical conceptualization.

Two studies attempted to theoretically conceptualize which music would be ‘relaxing’, and selected their musical stimuli accordingly. De la Torre-Luque et al. [ 3 ] utilized Melomics, a computational system for the automatic composition of music, to create songs that would be considered ‘relaxing’. These songs were slow-paced, instrumental pieces, which contained no sudden or abrupt changes in melody. Gan et al. [ 84 ] distinguished between stimulative and sedative (‘relaxing’) music based on musical tempo—the speed or pace of a given song, and dynamic range—the difference between the quietest and loudest parts of a song [ 121 ]. In their study, stimulative music was characterized by fast tempo and broad dynamic range, while sedative music was characterized by slow tempo and narrow (soft) dynamic range.

Self-selection.

Six studies allowed participants to select and listen to their own ‘relaxing’ music. In four studies, participants were instructed to bring a list of ‘preferred’ relaxing music, which they would have the opportunity to listen to during the study [ 18 , 37 , 54 , 66 , 119 ]. In one study, participants selected ‘relaxing’ music from a list created by the experimenters ( pseudo self-selection) [ 21 ]. The specific musical stimuli chosen by participants in studies allowing self-selection were often not reported.

Effects of music listening on stress recovery

Studies utilized a variety of outcomes to investigate the effects of music listening on stress recovery. To expand upon the results of our meta-analysis, we detail the findings reported for each of these outcomes below. Given that three studies included in the systematic review could not be included in the meta-analysis due to incomplete reported data, the number of studies per outcome reported in this section may differ from the number of studies per outcome in the meta-analysis ( Table 3 ).

Heart rate.

Scheufele [ 50 ] reported that participants who listened to classical music demonstrated lower post-stressor heart rate (HR) compared to participants in a comparable control group. By contrast, six studies reported no significant differences in post-stressor HR between participants who listened to music and those who did not [ 3 , 18 , 19 , 21 , 66 , 84 ]. In summary, only one study out of seven provides evidence in support of a positive effect of music listening on post-stressor HR recovery.

Heart rate variability.

Four studies utilized various heart rate variability (HRV) indices as a means to assess stress recovery. Two studies reported higher post-stressor HF band power in participants who listened to music compared to those who sat in silence [ 3 , 37 ]. In Nakajima et al. [ 82 ], this difference was more pronounced for participants who listened to music with boosted high frequencies. Contrarily, in Sokhadze [ 19 ], participants who listened to peaceful music demonstrated lower post-stressor HF band power compared to those who sat in silence. Two studies reported that post-stressor sample entropy was higher for participants who listened to music compared to silence [ 3 , 37 ]. This difference was taken as indicator which suggested that the physiological parameters of participants in the music condition were more ready to change compared to those in the silence condition [ 3 ]. No studies reported significant differences in RMSSD, LF band power, and LF/HF ratio between participants who listened to music and those who did not [ 3 , 19 , 37 , 82 ]. Overall, three of four studies provide support for a positive effect of music listening on post-stressor HRV recovery, but these effects seem to vary across HRV indices.

Blood pressure.

Four studies assessed the impact of music listening on stress recovery through changes in systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP). Chafin et al. [ 21 ] reported that the post-stressor SBP approached baseline values more quickly for participants who listened to experimenter-selected classical music compared to participants who sat in silence. On the other hand, three studies reported no significant differences in post-stressor SBP between participants who listened to music and those who did not [ 18 , 84 , 120 ]. Instead, compared to participants sitting in silence, post-stressor SBP recovery in participants who listened to either happy or relaxing music was delayed [ 18 ]. With regards to DBP, none of the above studies reported significant differences in post-stressor DBP between their respective experimental conditions. In summary, one study out of four provides support for a beneficial effect of music listening on post-stressor SBP recovery, while no studies provide support for a beneficial effect of music listening on DBP recovery.

Respiration rate.

One study reported no significant differences in post-stressor respiration rate (RR) between participants listening to different musical genres and silence [ 17 ]. As such, there is currently no evidence to suggest that music listening is beneficial for post-stressor RR recovery.

Skin conductance.

In Sokhadze [ 19 ], participants’ SC was lower while listening to pleasant music compared to during the stressor. In Fallon et al. [ 118 ], participants who listened to self-selected music experienced lower SC compared to those in the control condition during the recovery session of the study. In a post-hoc analysis, Labbé et al. [ 17 ] reported that post-stressor SC recovery was greater for the classical and self-selected music groups, compared to the heavy metal or no music groups. Collectively, three studies provide evidence for a positive effect of music listening on post-stressor SC recovery.

Two studies utilized cortisol to examine the effect of music listening on stress recovery. Khalfa et al. [ 54 ] reported that post-stressor cortisol decreased more rapidly for participants who listened to experimenter-selected classical music, compared to participants who sat in silence. Contrarily, Koelsch et al. [ 61 ] reported that music listening delayed cortisol recovery, as cortisol concentrations were higher for participants who listened to music post-stressor compared to silence. As such, only one study out of two provides support for a beneficial effect of music listening on post-stressor cortisol recovery.

Subjective stress.

In Groarke & Hogan [ 119 ], participants who listened to self-selected music reported lower subjective stress post-stressor compared to those who listened to a radio documentary. By comparison, in Radstaak et al. [ 18 ], there were no differences in post-stressor subjective stress between participants listening to happy music, relaxing music, an audiobook, and silence. Thus, only one study out of two provides support for a beneficial effect of music listening on post-stressor subjective stress.

Perceived relaxation.

In Labbé et al. [ 17 ], post-stressor perceived relaxation was higher for participants who listened to classical music compared to heavy metal, but not compared to silence. There were no significant differences in post-stressor perceived relaxation between participants listening to the various musical genres in Chafin et al. [ 21 ], and between participants listening to classical music or silence [ 50 ]. Thus, no studies provide conclusive evidence that music listening is beneficial for post-stressor perceived relaxation. However, the effects of music listening on perceived relaxation may differ depending on genre.

State anxiety.

Three studies reported that music listening reduced post-stressor state anxiety compared to silence [ 17 , 37 , 119 ]. Furthermore, Gan, Lim, and Haw [ 84 ] reported that post-stressor changes in mathematics-related anxiety were significantly higher for participants who listened to sedative music compared to those who did not. Despite this, three studies reported no significant differences in post-stressor state anxiety between their respective experimental groups [ 3 , 19 , 21 ]. Thus, four of seven studies provide support for a beneficial effect of music listening on post-stressor state anxiety.

State depression.

Two studies looked at the presence and/or severity of depressive symptoms in order to assess whether or not music facilitated psychological recovery [ 19 , 37 ]. However, only de la Torre-Luque et al. [ 37 ] reported significant positive differences in post-stressor depressive symptoms between participants who listened to music and those who did not.

Rumination.

Two studies measured rumination as an indicator of psychological stress recovery, and both reported no significant differences in post-stressor rumination between participants in their respective experimental conditions [ 18 , 21 ]. As such, there is currently no evidence to suggest that music listening is beneficial for post-stressor rumination.

Positive and negative affect.

De la Torre-Luque et al. [ 37 ] noted that participants who listened to music reported higher positive affect scores and lower negative affect scores post-stressor compared to the control group. Similarly, Radstaak et al. [ 18 ] reported that participants who listened to happy or relaxing music reported higher post-stressor positive affect compared to participants who did not listen to music, but found no significant differences in post-stressor negative affect. Two studies utilized the Profile of Moods Scale (POMS) to assess post-stressor changes in affect. Koelsch et al. [ 61 ] noted that participants who listened to music demonstrated higher post-stressor POMS scores (suggesting higher positive affect) compared to those who sat in silence. On the other hand, Scheufele [ 50 ] reported no significant differences in post-stressor POMS scores between experimental groups. Two studies [ 118 , 119 ] measured affect by asking participants to report whether they felt various emotions (e.g., calmness, nervousness) throughout the study. Fallon et al. [ 118 ] reported that music listening did not have differential effects on affect compared to silence, while Groarke and Hogan [ 119 ] noted that participants who listened to music demonstrated less negative affect (as indicated by lower scores on the various emotions that participants were asked to rate) compared to those who did not. Collectively, the effect of music listening on post-stressor positive and negative affect seemed to be mixed. Three studies provide support for the beneficial role of music listening on post-stressor positive affect, and two studies provide support for the beneficial effect of music listening for negative affect.

Supporting information

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0270031.s001

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How to Use Music for Stress Relief

Elizabeth Scott, PhD is an author, workshop leader, educator, and award-winning blogger on stress management, positive psychology, relationships, and emotional wellbeing.

Rachel Goldman, PhD FTOS, is a licensed psychologist, clinical assistant professor, speaker, wellness expert specializing in eating behaviors, stress management, and health behavior change.

• Morning Routine
• Cooking and Eating
• Running Errands
• Working or Studying

At a Glance

Music is a tool you can use to manage stress in your daily life. Try putting on some tunes while you’re doing chores, studying, or commuting to work.

Music can have a powerful effect on the health of our minds and bodies. Music therapy is a formal way to use the healing power of music, but you can also listen to music to relieve stress  on your own.

One of the benefits of using music to cope with stress is that it’s easy to fit into your schedule. Your favorite tunes can be a soothing soundtrack to your life and make your daily activities more enjoyable.

Here are some examples of when to listen to music to relieve stress, lift your mood, and improve your focus.

While You’re Getting Ready in the Morning

Your morning routine sets the tone for the rest of your day. Putting on some music while you shower, get dressed, and make breakfast can help you ease into your schedule.

Classical or instrumental music can help you get into a calm, focused mindset if you have a busy day ahead. If you got up on the wrong side of the bed, putting on some upbeat pop tunes can boost your mood.

While You’re Commuting

Playing music on your way to work can be as simple as putting the radio on or creating a playlist on your phone or MP3 player.

Having music that keeps you feeling calm can also help if you’re prone to  road rage . For example, listening to your favorite songs while you’re driving can relieve tension if you’re stuck in traffic.

Having the chance to listen to some good music can also help you feel like you’re fitting in some “me-time” before you get to work.

If your usual playlist is a little too stimulating on a stressful morning, try switching to some classical music or instrumental soundtracks to quiet your racing mind.

While You're Cooking and Eating

Nutrition  is a key factor in making sure your body is prepared to handle the ups and downs of life. Cooking meals at home  can be a great way to make sure you’re getting all the nutrients you need while also saving money.

That said, preparing meals at home takes time and energy. At the end of a long day, the thought of having to make dinner might be more stressful than rewarding.

Putting on some smooth jazz or another easy-listening genre of music can make cooking meals feel more like a fun activity than a dull chore.

Keeping a pleasant soundtrack on while you’re eating can reduce stress during your meal. Soothing music triggers a relaxation response , which can lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol  in your body.

Studies have also shown that listening to classical music during meals may help you avoid overeating, enjoy your food more, and improve digestion.

While You’re Running Errands

Going to the grocery store, picking up the kids from afterschool activities, and doing all the other things on your to-do list can be a hassle that leaves you feel haggard. 

If running around nonstop is making your heart race, try putting on some music that you find peaceful.

Having music in the background won’t make your list of things to do shorter, but it can make the time feel like it’s going by faster and even make it feel a little fun.

While You’re Doing Chores

Keeping your home clean and organized can  help lower stress , but housework can feel daunting after a long day.  

Putting on music with a great beat, like hip-hop or Top 40 hits, can energize you as you tackle everything from cleaning the bathroom to vacuuming. You may even feel like dancing around from one room to the next as you tidy up.

If you’re dreading the chores on your list, figure out how long it will take you to get them done. Then, make a playlist of songs that will last for that amount of time. Not only will it give you a way to track how much progress you’re making, but you may start looking forward to listening to your cleaning jams.

For the less physical to-do list items, like sitting down to figure out your budget or pay bills, try putting on music that helps you focus. A playlist that you enjoy can also help you through these tasks if you’re coping with a lot of financial stress . Some studies have even suggested that listening to certain music can help you make better money decisions.

While You’re Working or Studying

Some people need total silence to focus, but if you’re someone who likes a little background noise, try putting on music while you’re working or studying.

Some research suggests that listening to music can improve attention and may help you be more productive. And if you’re stressed out over a deadline or big project, music can also help you feel a little calmer.

Experiment with different genres, styles, and tempos of music to figure out which one helps you the most.

If you’re working in an office setting or studying in a public place like a library, just make sure you’re listening to music with headphones (not too loud) so you don’t disrupt others.

While You’re Exercising

Working out has many stress-relieving health benefits, but it can also be a source of stress if you struggle to find the time to exercise, don’t enjoy it, or think it’s boring.

Music can enhance a workout and even turn it into an activity that you’ll look forward to.

You might get a better workout with a soundtrack—some studies have shown that listening to music while you exercise can boost your stamina.

If you want to listen to music at the gym or while doing physical activity outside, just make sure you can still practice situational awareness. If you’re wearing headphones, keep the music volume low enough that you can still hear what’s going on around you.

While You’re Getting Ready for Bed

Getting enough sleep  is important for stress management, but stress can also interfere with sleep .

Just like you started your day with some music, try putting on some calming tunes as you’re winding down at the end of the day.

Having a bedtime playlist to help you drift off can be part of a nightly self-care routine that gets your body ready for rest. Music’s soothing effects are physical (like slowing your breathing) and mental (like quieting all the stressful chatter in your mind).

Miller CR, Patmon F, Knapp H. Music to reduce stress in hospitalized patients .  Nursing . 2021;51(8):62-66. doi:10.1097/01.nurse.0000757168.77552.58

University of Nevada, Reno. Releasing stress through the power of music .

Feneberg AC, Stijovic A, Forbes P, et al. Perceptions of stress and mood associated with listening to music in daily life during the COVID-19 lockdown .  JAMA network open . 2023;6(1):e2250382-e2250382. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.50382

Krisna Adiasto, Hooff van, Debby, Sabine. The sound of stress recovery: an exploratory study of self-selected music listening after stress .  BMC Psychology . 2023;11(1). doi:10.1186/s40359-023-01066-w

Cui T, Xi J, Tang C, Song J, He J, Brytek-Matera A. The relationship between music and food intake: A systematic review and meta-analysis .  Nutrients . 2021;13(8):2571. Published 2021 Jul 27. doi:10.3390/nu13082571

Krisna Adiasto, Debby, Hooff van, Roelofs K, Sabine. Music listening and stress recovery in healthy individuals: A systematic review with meta-analysis of experimental studies.  PLOS ONE . 2022;17(6):e0270031-e0270031. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0270031

Goltz F, Makiko Sadakata. Do you listen to music while studying? A portrait of how people use music to optimize their cognitive performance .  Acta Psychologica . 2021;220:103417-103417. doi:10.1016/j.actpsy.2021.103417

Gonzalez, MF, Aiello, JR. More than meets the ear: Investigating how music affects cognitive task performance .  Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 25 (3), 2019. 431–444.

Borella E, Carretti B, Meneghetti C, et al. Is working memory training in older adults sensitive to music?   Psychological Research . 2017;83(6):1107-1123. doi:10.1007/s00426-017-0961-8

Harvard Business Review. Can music make you more productive? .

Ballmann CG. The influence of music preference on exercise responses and performance: A review .  J Funct Morphol Kinesiol . 2021;6(2):33. Published 2021 Apr 8. doi:10.3390/jfmk6020033

National Center for Health Research. Can listening to music improve your workout? .

By Elizabeth Scott, PhD Elizabeth Scott, PhD is an author, workshop leader, educator, and award-winning blogger on stress management, positive psychology, relationships, and emotional wellbeing.

Releasing stress through the power of music

Music can have a profound effect on both the emotions and the body. Faster music can make you feel more alert and concentrate better. Upbeat music can make you feel more optimistic and positive about life. A slower tempo can quiet your mind and relax your muscles, making you feel soothed while releasing the stress of the day. Music is effective for relaxation and stress management.

Research confirms these personal experiences with music. Current findings indicate that music around 60 beats per minute can cause the brain to synchronize with the beat causing alpha brainwaves (frequencies from 8 - 14 hertz or cycles per second). This alpha brainwave is what is present when we are relaxed and conscious. To induce sleep (a delta brainwave of 5 hertz), a person may need to devote at least 45 minutes, in a relaxed position, listening to calming music. Researchers at Stanford University have said that "listening to music seems to be able to change brain functioning to the same extent as medication." They noted that music is something that almost anybody can access and makes it an easy stress reduction tool.

So what type of music reduces stress the best? A bit surprising is that Native American, Celtic, Indian stringed-instruments, drums, and flutes are very effective at relaxing the mind even when played moderately loud. Sounds of rain, thunder, and nature sounds may also be relaxing particularly when mixed with other music, such as light jazz, classical (the "largo" movement), and easy listening music. Since with music we are rarely told the beats per minute, how do you choose the relaxation music that is best for you? The answer partly rests with you: You must first like the music being played, and then it must relax you. You could start by simply exploring the music on this web page. Some may relax you, some may not. Forcing yourself to listen to relaxation music that irritates you can create tension, not reduce it. If that happens, try looking for alternatives on the internet or consult with Counseling Service staff for other musical suggestions. It is important to remember that quieting your mind does not mean you will automatically feel sleepy. It means your brain and body are relaxed, and with your new calm self, you can then function at your best in many activities.

Experiment now. Experience a "sound bath" and let the music carry you away

The links below each open relaxing musical selections in YouTube.

A Moment of Peace Meditation Aneal & Bradfield, "Heaven and Earth Spirits" track from Life & Love). Lovely contemporary piano music with accompanying instruments and nature scenes.

Echoes of Time C. Carlos Nakai from the Canyon Trilogy. Serene Native American flute music, with a picture of Nakai backlit by the sun at the Grand Canyon.

The Winding Path Ken Kern from The Winding Path. Highly rated, beautiful piano music with accompanying instruments with pictures of exquisite flowers and plants.

Classical Indian Music for Healing and Relaxing Gayatri Govindarajan, "Pure Deep Meditation" track. Lovely and rhythmic music played on the veena, the most ancient of the Indian plucked-instruments, with nature scenes.

Angels of Venice Angels of Venice from Music for Harp, Flute and Cello. Classical with 3 instruments with nature pictures.

Earth Drum "Spirit Vision," (David & Steve Gordon. Serene and lovely contemporary Native American informed-drumming music utilizing Taos Log Drum and Incan Pan along with other instruments and ocean/forest nature scenes.

Buddha Spirit Aneal & Bradfield from Light & Love. Reflective but strong contemporary music utilizing various instruments and occasional humming voices with colorful oscillating fractals

Spa Relaxing Music Tranquil contemporary instrumental with piano and a fixed candle light.

Relaxation Music: 1-Hour Meditation Candle Serene contemporary instrumental with piano and one flickering candle.

Sleep Deeply Dan Gibson. Nature sounds and instrumental, tranquil sleep music.

Weightless Marconi Union. The sounds on this video are carefully arranged harmonies, rhythms, and bass lines that help slow a listener's heart rate, reduce blood pressure, and lower levels of the cortisol stress hormone.

6 Ways Music Can Reduce Your Stress

Discover the calming effects of music..

Posted October 10, 2022 | Reviewed by Davia Sills

• What Is Stress?
• Find counselling to overcome stress
• Music interventions are very easy and inexpensive to integrate in both our daily lives and in medical settings.
• Research shows that listening to music can have a significant effect on alleviating anxiety and stress.
• Non-lyrical music with a slow tempo is one of the most effective music interventions for stress reduction.

Listening to music is an appealing alternative intervention for stress and anxiety as it is accessible, inexpensive, and easy to include in daily life. Listening to and making music have been associated with a broad range of positive health outcomes. Listening to music can decrease cortisol levels, increase serotonin levels, and activate the brain areas involved in reward.

For example, in medical settings, listening to relaxing music before, during, and after medical procedures has been reported to correlate with lower cortisol levels. There exists some evidence to support the anxiety -reducing effect of background music on patients awaiting clinical encounters.

Here are six ways that music seems to reduce anxiety and stress.

1. The relaxing effect of tempo

Music tempo can be considered one of the most important factors. Research has shown that listening to slow-tempo and low-pitch music can calm people down during stressful situations. For example, music with a slow tempo (60–80 bpm), such as meditative music or mellow jazz, has often been associated with relaxation. Music with a slow, steady rhythm provides stress reduction by altering body rhythms, such as heart rate.

2. Music without lyrics

Music without lyrics usually works best. The use of instrumental music, instead of music with lyrics, often leads to greater effects of music interventions on stress reduction. Music containing lyrics may be more distracting instead of calming.

3. Music as a distraction strategy

Music provides a means of escape. Listening to music can provide a “distraction” from stress-increasing thoughts or feelings. Music as a distractor can divert attention from a stressful event to something more pleasant, which reduces stress levels. So, listening to music that alters mood via shifting thought patterns may have a long-lasting effect.

4. Music triggers pleasure

Music has a strong connection to feelings of pleasure. Engaging with music can trigger the same biological and psychological responses associated with other highly fundamental rewards, such as food, sex , and money. Music experienced as pleasant increases positive emotion , which has a stress-reducing effect.

5. Social connection

Listening to music in the presence of others may strengthen the stress-reducing effect of the music intervention. Music facilitates social connection and bonding . Group music-making or singing together may result in social bonding, which may be explained by the release of the neurotransmitters endorphin and oxytocin .

6. Your preference matters

Research suggests that having a choice of what to listen to shows more beneficial effects than music chosen by someone else. When, for some reason, the chosen music is not suitable for the situation, it can lead to undesired mood shifts or worsening of negative mood. For example, if you don’t care for rock, it could have the opposite effect.

Overall, research suggests that listening to music plays an important role in reducing anxiety and stress. And some evidence suggests that it may do so more effectively than anti-anxiety drugs. A key benefit of such interventions is that, unlike interventions involving the creation of music, they do not require any specialist knowledge, equipment, or ability. Furthermore, music listening can be flexibly self-administered. However, the effectiveness of music in reducing stress is highly dependent on the individual’s preference and familiarity with the music.

Shahram Heshmat, Ph.D., is an associate professor emeritus of health economics of addiction at the University of Illinois at Springfield.

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Does Playing Music Reduce Stress?

Show/hide words to know.

Enzyme: a protein that changes the speed of chemical reactions.

Hormone: a chemical message released by cells into the body that affects other cells in the body.

Immune system: all the cells, tissues, and organs involved in fighting infection or disease in the body...  more

Nervous system: organ system made of a network of specialized cells called neurons that coordinate the actions of an animal and transmit signals to and from different parts of the body...  more

Stress: a feeling we have when reacting to a particular event. Examples of stressful situations include studying before a big test or when a basketball player has to take a shot that could win the game.

Stressor: an event or object that leads a person to feel stressed and experience a stress response.

What's in the Story?

Scientists were interested in how music affects stress levels. Image by Kashirin Nickolai.

Today is one of those days where nothing seems to be going right. You're frustrated and ready for the day to be over. When you get home, you put on your headphones and try to relax. You close your eyes and fill your mind with the twang of the guitar, the beats of the drums, and the cascading sounds of the piano keys. Sometimes all it takes is listening to soothing music to calm you down. Many people listen to music when they are trying to focus or relax, whether it’s hip hop, the twinkling sounds of wind chimes, or the background music in elevators.

In the PLOS ONE article  “The Effect of Music on the Human Stress Response,” scientists looked at how music affects the body’s response to stress. 

Stress: Wear and Tear on the Body

Taking a test can be stressful for many people. When you are stressed, your body responds by releasing hormones such as cortisol. Image by AlbertoQperello.

The big test is tomorrow, but you’ve barely had any time to study. With so much information to learn and bedtime at hand, you feel like you are doomed to fail. These sorts of situations often make people feel stressed out. When we feel something important to us, like a test grade, is being threatened, our body reacts with a stress response.

A stress response is your body’s way of preparing itself so that you can work hard and fix the problem that is causing you stress. Your nervous system releases hormones into your bloodstream to tell the body how to react. One of these hormones is cortisol.

Stress hormones like cortisol help prepare your body to run. Long ago, we needed to run in response to stressors like predators. Image by Garry Knight.

Cortisol is a hormone that is released during stress to help the body deal with whatever it is that is causing the stress. For example, it could tell the body to bring more energy to your muscles to help you run if necessary. Millions of years ago, running was something that people would have needed to do when they were stressed. Back then, stress didn’t come from tests or homework, but from the threat of fast predators.

Even though a stress response helps you to work hard and ace your test, it can also hurt you. Cortisol tells your body to send more fuel to your muscles, but that energy has to come from somewhere else in your body. Oftentimes, it will take that fuel from other areas of your body, like your immune system. If your immune system isn’t getting as much energy, you could become sick much more easily. Beyond that, if your body is constantly preparing to run, fight, or otherwise react to stress, it can wear you out and put you at higher risk for getting sick.

Music: A Source of Relaxation?

Too much stress can make it more likely for a person to get sick, and so scientists are trying to think of ways to keep people from being overly stressed. In this experiment, scientists studied the effect of music on stress.

Scientists asked subjects to give a speech as part of the Trier Social Stress Task. Image by BotMultichillT.

Scientists asked women to either listen to relaxing music, nature sounds, or to 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. Alpha-amylase is important to your body as it kills unwanted bacteria and it helps break down the food that you eat. Alpha-amylase is also released by the nervous system in response to stress, though scientists still have a lot to learn about this process.

Nature’s Music

This graph shows the levels of alpha amylase in women listening to relaxing music (RM), rippling water (SW), or nothing (R). Click for more detail.

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.

The people listening to relaxing music showed a stress response that was shorter compared to the other groups. The shorter response helps to prevent the body from getting worn out. This means that listening to relaxing music might help to improve the stress response and health.

Additionally, women that listened to music had higher levels of cortisol after stress than people who weren’t listening to anything. It was the people who listened to the nature sounds that had the lowest levels of cortisol. This means that listening to music during stress may not actually decrease stress. However, listening to nature sounds might do the trick.

Music and You

The results of this study were a bit mixed. Scientists still have a lot of work to do to see if listening to music can reduce stress by lowering cortisol levels in the body. They are also studying whether listening to music can improve health and prevent disease. Whether music of the subjects' choosing could mean more stress relief is also still unanswered.

Until we know more, maybe play some tunes or listen to some nature sounds when you feel stressed. Even if it doesn’t directly help your stress level, it’s still nice to hear a good song.

 Additional images via Wikimedia Commons. Headphones image by Cystokesre.

View Citation

Bibliographic details:.

• Article: Does Playing Music Reduce Stress?
• Author(s): Shannon L. Jewell
• Publisher: Arizona State University School of Life Sciences Ask A Biologist
• Site name: ASU - Ask A Biologist
• Date published: June 13, 2014
• Date accessed: March 24, 2024
• Link: https://askabiologist.asu.edu/plosable/does-playing-music-reduce-stress

Shannon L. Jewell. (2014, June 13). Does Playing Music Reduce Stress?. ASU - Ask A Biologist. Retrieved March 24, 2024 from https://askabiologist.asu.edu/plosable/does-playing-music-reduce-stress

Chicago Manual of Style

Shannon L. Jewell. "Does Playing Music Reduce Stress?". ASU - Ask A Biologist. 13 June, 2014. https://askabiologist.asu.edu/plosable/does-playing-music-reduce-stress

MLA 2017 Style

Shannon L. Jewell. "Does Playing Music Reduce Stress?". ASU - Ask A Biologist. 13 Jun 2014. ASU - Ask A Biologist, Web. 24 Mar 2024. https://askabiologist.asu.edu/plosable/does-playing-music-reduce-stress

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Analysis and research on the influence of music on students’ mental health under the background of deep learning

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This paper makes a detailed analysis and discussion on the impact of music appreciation on college students’ mental health and the influence of music appreciation on students’ mental health, mental energy and mental structure. There has long been the idea of music promoting people’s mental health, as well as related research in the field of music psychology. For this specific group of primary and secondary school students, it should be said that it is relatively rare to consider using music education to promote their mental health. This paper summarizes the advantages of deep learning over shallow learning, explains the necessity of introducing deep learning, and describes the data representation of deep learning and several typical deep learning models. This study adopts the method of multi-evidence to conduct in-depth research and analysis. On the basis of in-depth study and research, this paper analyzes and studies the impact of music on students’ mental health, so as to lay a foundation for future research on students’ mental health. In terms of influencing factors and strategies to promote students’ in-depth learning, we should apply the research results to specific teaching situations with the help of advanced digital technology, and strive to combine theory with practice. The research shows that college students’ mental health is an important part of quality education in Colleges and universities, and music education plays an important role in the implementation of quality education.

Introduction

With the gradual advancement of quality education concept in schools, more and more attention has been paid to the influence of music on students’ mental health in teaching. Music becomes a channel for students to go to mental health, which allows them to cultivate students’ aesthetic sentiment, enlighten their wisdom, enhance their psychological quality, enhance their aesthetic taste and construct their own spiritual framework during their growth. With the deepening of research, deep learning has not only increased a lot of related research, such as neural network, learning process, classroom teaching, etc., but also the interdisciplinary research on deep learning has developed rapidly, such as pedagogy, physics, mathematics and other disciplines. Under the background of core literacy-oriented curriculum reform, a large number of primary and secondary schools are putting in-depth learning into specific curriculum teaching practice. With the popularization of higher education, music, as an important aspect of quality education, gets more and more attention. Many colleges and universities include music appreciation in humanistic quality education courses, and put forward higher requirements for music appreciation courses. Music, as a kind of culture, has a long history in the longitudinal direction, and is vast in the horizontal direction. It plays an extremely important role in the quality of talents ( Awais et al., 2020 ). Mental health, as an important index reflecting personal health, has been paid more and more attention in social functional departments, such as education, life and production, and has been vigorously publicized and popularized as an important part of humanistic care. The mental health of college students is one of the focuses of the current society. It is a way worth exploring to use music to adjust the mental state of college students. The mental health of college students is one of the focuses of the current society. Using music to adjust the mental state of college students is a way worth exploring ( Nachmani et al., 2018 ). With the deepening of research, deep learning has attracted the attention of researchers in the field of education. Educational researchers have found that “learning can also be divided into depth and depth” and that deep learning is an effective way to deeply process knowledge and information and improve learning efficiency. Therefore, developing deep learning has become an important measure of contemporary learning science. At the same time, society requires citizens to master accurate information and have the ability to deal with it, so as to serve the contemporary society. Deep learning means that on the basis of understanding, learners learn new ideas and knowledge critically, integrate them with the original cognitive structure, connect many ideas with each other, and transfer existing knowledge to new situations, so as to make decisions and solve problems. At present, digital, networked and mobile new learning methods have emerged one after another and become popular. Even because of the misuse of new learning tools and technologies, some learning activities only stay at the shallow learning level, so the network is even considered as a hotbed for shallow learning, which is not suitable for deep learning activities. At present, the rapid development of economy and the fierce competition in the information society also bring great social pressure to their lives. For the current college students, they cannot bear such great pressure. This invisible pressure makes them prone to excessive self-esteem, stronger self-inferiority, easy self-centeredness, emotional, weak sense of responsibility and other psychological problems, which lead them to commit crimes easily ( Kaluarachchi et al., 2021 ).

The early study of in-depth learning showed concern for the learning process, learning methods and learning results. At the same time, from the perspective of psychological research, the concept of learning quality with “understanding” as the core was put forward, and it was tried to describe it in a measurable way. Under the background at that time, the research trend of learning process, learning methods, learning results and quality and teaching effectiveness was a positive and concrete attempt to respond to the educational problems in the social change from the micro-level of classroom teaching, taking the educational process as the research foothold. In terms of computational complexity of network structure, when a network structure with depth k can express a certain function compactly, when a network structure with depth less than k is used to express the function, it may be necessary to increase the number of computational factors of exponential scale, which greatly increases the computational complexity. Generally speaking, for a given number of training samples, if there is a lack of other prior knowledge, people prefer to use a small number of computing units to establish the “tight expression” of the objective function to obtain better generalization ability. When the network depth is not enough, this tight expression may not be established at all. Because theoretical research shows that the function that can be compactly expressed by the network with depth K sometimes requires exponential growth of computing units when expressed by the network with depth k – 1.

In this paper, the corresponding research methods are established to analyze and explain it. In the research of deep learning, the corresponding model diagram and algorithm formula are established. In the research of music’s influence on students’ mental health, data graph and other methods are established to analyze it.

The main contribution of this paper is to conduct in-depth research and analysis of its research by using multi-evidence method. And use the method of demonstration to study and explain its research. On the basis of in-depth study, this paper analyzes and studies the impact of music on students’ mental health. Lay a foundation for the future study of students’ mental health. This paper summarizes the advantages of deep learning over shallow learning, explains the necessity of introducing deep learning, describes the data representation of deep learning and several typical deep learning models, such as convolutional neural network, DBN, and stack self-coding network, explains the reasons that may lead to the difficulties of deep learning training, introduces effective training methods, and from the aspects of initialization method, the selection of network layer and activation function, model structure This paper summarizes the new progress of deep learning research in recent years from four aspects: learning algorithm and practical application.

This paper is divided into five sections. The first section of this paper expounds the research background of the influence of music teaching on students’ mental health. The second section makes an empirical analysis of how to use network technology to support and promote deep learning. The third section studies the basic connotation of deep learning. The content of deep learning algorithm is described. Section “results and analysis” studies the influence of music on students’ mental health, and describes the research on the influence of music appreciation on students’ mental health. Section “summary” summarizes the full text. This paper summarizes the advantages of deep learning over shallow learning, and explains the necessity of introducing deep learning.

Related work

At present, the importance of education informatization is insufficient, and there is no in-depth understanding of the positive role of university informatization construction on the development of higher education. The traditional management concept and mode of thinking have seriously restricted the construction and development of university informatization. Theoretical research results are divorced from reality. This is mainly because most of the technical personnel engaged in design are not the front-line personnel of education, which leads to the disconnection between the designed works and education. The speed of information technology updating is fast. To give full play to the benefits, we must have high-quality information management personnel. Education informatization requires technical personnel who can be responsible for the design and maintenance of information systems, as well as the integration and development of various management software. Although there are many talents in this field in ordinary colleges and universities of science and technology, most of them are in teaching posts and do not engage in business management. How to avoid the complementary connection of information systems and avoid the phenomenon of “information fortress.” How to correctly and reasonably apply information technology to the process of education informatization has not been well solved. In view of many problems in the current process of educational informatization, learning research groups have conducted descriptive empirical research on how to use network technology to support and promote deep learning. However, with the increasing attention paid to this problem, with various new learning methods constantly emerging, faced with worries and doubts about superficial and impetuous learning caused by fast-food, fragmentation and miniaturization of learning, It is necessary to deeply analyze and understand the essential connotation of deep learning, and further explore the theoretical basis of deep learning from the perspective of learning science and learning psychology, which has practical theoretical significance for understanding and understanding deep learning, revealing its mechanism and forming promotion strategies. Deep learning is more expressive than shallow learning, and the increase of depth makes the local optimal solution of non-convex objective function the main factor causing learning difficulties. From the perspective of the relevance and complexity of research topics, there are differences in the starting time of deep learning research, as well as the disciplines involved in early research (educational psychology and higher education were the earliest in countries, and educational technology was the first to introduce deep learning research in China), and the relevance and complexity of research topics are quite different. From any angle, we can see that deep learning puts forward new requirements for students’ learning. It emphasizes that learning is a kind of learning different from the past. It is no longer aimed at exams, nor is it limited to simple and mechanical copying of knowledge. Instead, it requires learners to grasp, apply, synthesize, analyze and evaluate, and be able to solve practical problems in life situations and form higher-order thinking goals.

In the research, Kresovich et al. think that the potential psychological adjustment of music is very crucial, which not only edifies students’ sentiment, but also promotes the emotional communication among students, makes the interpersonal relationship among students more harmonious, cultivates the ability of mutual assistance and assistance, and promotes the healthy development of students’ mind and body ( Kresovich et al., 2021 ). Hense et al. think that music education is not only a means of art teaching, but also plays a significant role in psychological adjustment and treatment. Therefore, music education should play an active role and value in disease treatment in college music education. Colleges and universities should proceed from the reality of students’ mental health, endow colorful music teaching activities with the function of psychological adjustment, and widely apply them to the practice of college students’ mental health work ( Hense et al., 2018 ). Kegelaers et al. think that music itself has a power that other arts cannot match and surpass, and this power contains very powerful emotions. This is also a very clear affirmation of the function of music in numerous literatures ( Kegelaers et al., 2021 ). Wang et al. thinks that the “anxiety” caused by the pressure of study, employment and competition has become a major psychological problem that plagues higher vocational students ( Wang and Agius, 2018 ). According to Terry et al. the psychological adjustment function of music for students cannot be realized only by passive appreciation. On the contrary, passive music appreciation must be expanded into active music rhythm and interactive and cooperative music-themed activities, so that students can rediscover their own values and abilities, reconfirm themselves and accept themselves in the process of listening, discussing and expressing music, so that they can play music effectively ( Terry et al., 2020 ). Sharma et al. thinks that the stimulation provided by music satisfies the “id”. The “ID” is the primitive instinct, the most inaccessible part of the personality, and the powerful one, which includes the survival drive and sexual drive of human instinct. When the ID is not satisfied, the individual will breed anxiety and produce a tense state. The satisfaction that the ID needs can eliminate the tension and make the individual feel happy ( Sharma et al., 2020 ). Wang et al. think that learning is the process of learners’ complex information processing activities and cognitive construction. In essence, deep learning is a process of constructing the meaning of structural and non-structural knowledge, and it is also a complex information processing process. It is necessary to effectively and finely process the activated prior knowledge and the acquired new knowledge, that is, from awareness and analysis to synthesis, application and assimilation ( Wang et al., 2020 ). The purpose of in-depth learning is to develop higher-order thinking ability and realize meaningful learning. Its core idea embodies important concepts in cognitive science such as understanding, construction, transfer, problem solving and reflection. Ballenberger et al. think that deep learning is no longer just the similarities and differences of learning methods and strategies, but that there are significant differences in the understanding and criticism of meaning, the connection and construction of knowledge, and the migration and application of learning. The understanding of this difference has also prompted researchers to explore the essential characteristics of deep learning from the perspectives of memory mode, knowledge system, focus and learning motivation ( Ballenberger et al., 2018 ).

Deep learning research

Research on the basic connotation of deep learning.

In the 1990s, the deep learning research continued from the earlier research, which was reflected in the concern for learning results and learning process. The research at this stage mainly focuses on the topics of education, academic performance, learning strategies, learning perception and learning outcomes from the perspective of self-construction of psychological learning, while the research topics such as students, knowledge, motivation, science, classroom, mode and differences in learning quality also frequently appear. In the process of problem-solving learning, learners still pay attention to the explanation of functional level, but it includes a wider range of explanatory information, as well as more structured information and internal mechanisms. They try to understand the causal relationship between phenomena through the qualitative relationship between parts and recall association. Deep learning method tries to find the internal structure of data and the real relationship between variables. A large number of studies have shown that the way of data representation has a great influence on the success of training and learning. Good representation can eliminate the influence of changes in input data that have nothing to do with learning tasks on learning performance, while retaining useful information for learning tasks ( Ascenso et al., 2018 ; Jensen and Bonde, 2018 ). Among the views on self-construction and social construction of learning, it is worth paying attention to the debate between the two research camps of symbolic processing and situational cognition for nearly 20 years. The cognitive theory of symbol processing is an important research of modern cognitive psychology. The cognitive theory of orientation symbol processing emphasizes the decisive role of knowledge on behavior and cognitive activities. It emphasizes the holistic study of cognitive processes. And “mental activity like computer” is taken as its metaphorical basis. With the method of computer simulation, a large number of simulation studies have been carried out on cognitive problems such as perceptual attention, memory and problem solving. Important progress has been made in revealing the nature and mechanism of human cognition. However, due to the limitations of metaphor itself, there are serious deficiencies in this study. The former pays attention to the processing structure of brain and thinking symbol representation, emphasizes the understanding of people’s inner mental process and the transformation characteristics of individual input and output, and pays no attention to the external environment; The latter pays attention to the structure of the external world and how it constrains and guides human behavior, emphasizing the role of history, social interaction, culture and environment, while weakening the importance of internal cognition. In order to show the overall research situation of deep learning in recent years more clearly and grasp the development trend of deep learning research, this research is based on the full-text database of Chinese academic journals in CNKI database, and adopts the method of literature analysis. Deep learning is a learning process characterized by the mental state of advanced thinking. Therefore, this paper focuses on the deep learning methods, deep learning motivation and deep learning strategies adopted by learners in the learning process. Through the statistical analysis of the frequency of high-frequency keywords, the co-cited matrix is generated, and through the advanced statistical processing such as cluster analysis, multi-dimensional scale analysis, factor analysis and social network analysis, different forms of visual graphics are drawn. According to its research, the corresponding model diagrams are established for analysis, as shown in Figures 1 , ​ ,2 2 .

Model diagram of deep learning system.

Deep learning operation model diagram. (A) Model distillation and (B) privileged features distillation.

In-depth study has stepped into the fast lane, the research results have gradually increased, and the research contents have become richer and richer. Build a virtual learning community in cyberspace, use instructional video resources or other software tools for visual learning, or conduct simulation experiments in virtual situations. Online collaborative learning, blended learning, mobile learning, and ubiquitous learning have become possible. Information-based teaching is a bilateral educational activity that educators use the current educational media, information resources and educational technology methods. The whole teaching process adheres to the teaching concept of taking learners as the main body and taking ability as the standard, “learning by doing and teaching by doing”. Information-based teaching design refers to, in order to achieve certain teaching goals, according to the characteristics of students, the theme of course content and environmental conditions. Make full use of modern information technology and resources, take learning as the center, and scientifically arrange each link and element in the teaching process, so as to realize the optimization of the teaching process. Based on the theoretical analysis and practical consensus of deep learning, it can be seen that deep learning is to solve the problems related to learning in the increasingly complex environment from the perspective of integration in explaining the rationality and experience of learning essence. Deep learning emphasizes the essence of learning. When deep learning becomes the consensus and normal state of educational practice and the essence of learning returns, the name of “deep learning” may return to “learning” instead of emphasizing “depth”. It is worth mentioning that deep learning is relative to false learning and mechanical learning, and the latter two are not what school teaching should be ( Sakalle et al., 2021 ; Sundaresan et al., 2021 ). Each computing layer of the network is composed of multiple feature maps, and each feature map exists in the form of a two-dimensional plane. The neurons in the plane share the same weight set under constraints. Deep learning is a new multi-layer neural network learning algorithm. This paper analyzes the advantages of this algorithm, and on the basis of summarizing the current research situation, puts forward the existing problems in the current research. On the basis of the analysis model of deep learning constructed by the latter, the research status is summarized. As the process of deep learning mainly includes situation creation, knowledge construction, problem solving and reflective evaluation, correspondingly, these four cognitive theories also explain deep learning from these four angles. Although each has its own emphasis, it is not absolutely independent. At the same time, there are some connections among these four cognitive theories. Constructivism theory comprehensively expounds deep learning from the perspectives of learning process, results, conditions, etc. Situational cognitive theory, distributed cognitive theory and metacognitive theory also enrich and develop the related research of constructivism from many aspects. The idea of metacognition runs through all the processes of deep learning, and is involved in constructivism theory, situational cognition theory and metacognition theory. In the research, a corresponding model diagram is established to analyze it, as shown in Figure 3 .

Model diagram of deep learning level.

Human’s learning activity is an extremely complex system, and the study of human learning phenomenon and its essential law has always been the focus of human attention for a long time. Looking back at the long course of study and research, human beings’ exploration of learning phenomena has experienced three changes: the tradition of philosophical research, the tradition of scientific psychology based on laboratory and the tradition of multidisciplinary integration research that focuses on natural situations. A systematic and scientific learning theory has gradually formed, and gradually turned to the study and scientific research that pays more attention to complex learning phenomena in real situations. In the research of deep learning, the corresponding data tables are established for analysis, such as Tables 1 , ​ ,2 2 .

Data sheet of deep learning research.

Deep learning specific analysis data table.

The deep learning method research includes four aspects: strategy research, teaching mode, environment design and model design. Among them, strategy research refers to various strategies and methods to promote deep learning, including information technology support strategy, learning evaluation strategy and blank space strategy. In order to meet the needs of their own development, deep learners will actively learn knowledge and skills. However, shallow learners only accept information passively in order to complete the task.

Research on deep learning algorithm

In-depth study is interwoven with people’s way of understanding things based on rationality and experience. In the debate between self-construction and social construction of learning, cognitive objectivism moves toward the opposite side, and the irrational, socialized and contextualized parts of learning activities are gradually discovered. It can be seen from the main co-cited researchers in deep learning research that during this period, the key researchers not only include the teaching field, but also the research in multimedia learning, Computer Supported Cooperative Learning (CSCL) and other fields have received sudden attention. While discussing the advantages of information technology in promoting deep learning, people also found some problems such as learners’ cognitive load in this process. Deep learning has become a hot field in modern education. In the early stage of its development, it did not pay enough attention to it, and there is still a certain gap between the interpretation and practical application of deep learning in countries. The integration of information technology and deep learning is not high. Scholars pay more and more attention to the integration of information technology and deep learning. Improving classroom efficiency and realizing deep learning through information technology has become a hot topic ( Babini et al., 2020 ; Cheah et al., 2020 ). Content analysis refers to a scientific research method that objectively, systematically and quantitatively describes the research content of a certain field, so as to deeply grasp the research status and content of the research field. Cite Space is an application software developed based on Java platform. Because it is suitable for multivariate, time-sharing and dynamic complex network analysis, it has become the most distinctive and influential information visualization software in the field of information analysis. Scientific and reasonable teaching strategies are the foundation and guarantee to make deep learning a reality. Deep learning teaching strategy is a suggestion to adjust teachers’ ideas and teaching behaviors based on the problems existing in deep learning. The research scope of deep learning mainly focuses on formal learning field and well-structured problem field. The formal field of study mainly refers to the classroom. However, learning also happens in most areas of informal learning. Informal learning, as an extension of formal learning, plays an important role in understanding and supplementing the knowledge learned in class. In the deep learning model, the convolutional neural network limits the network structure by using the local connection of the receiving domain. Another feature of convolutional neural networks is the sharing of weights. There are a lot of connected weights in the graph, but because the neurons in the same hidden layer share the same weight set, the number of free parameters is greatly reduced. The feature detection layer of convolutional neural network learns through training data, avoiding explicit feature extraction, but implicitly learning features from training data. Moreover, the neurons on the same feature mapping surface have the same weights, and the network can learn in parallel, which is also an advantage of convolutional neural network over other neural networks. The network structure of convolutional neural network is closer to the actual biological neural network, and it has unique advantages in speech recognition and image processing, especially in the field of visual image processing, and good results have been obtained. In the research, the corresponding algorithm formulas are established for analysis, such as formulas (1) – (4) plus (5) , (6) .

The method of random initialization is adopted for the deep neural network. The gradient-based optimization makes the training result fall into the local extreme value, but the global optimal value cannot be found. The numerical optimal solution (minimum value) trained by gradient descent method is almost equal to the analytical solution. When the parameter x to be optimized is initialized to different values, the final corresponding optimal solution (minimum value) is also different. This shows that the position of the optimal solution (local minimum) obtained by the iteration of the gradient descent algorithm is closely related to the initial value of the parameters to be optimized. With the deepening of the network structure, it is more difficult to get good generalization performance, which makes the learning result of the deep neural network after random initialization even worse than that of the shallow structure neural network with only one or two hidden layers. For deep learning, unsupervised learning and semi-supervised learning are the key components of a successful learning algorithm. Unsupervised learning makes the parameters of supervised learning enter a suitable preset area, and a good solution can be obtained by gradient descent in this area. Unsupervised learning is used in each layer of deep structured neural network to decompose a problem into several sub-problems related to the extraction of multiple representation levels, and visual learning support is provided at appropriate stages. From the perspective of visualization, the teaching process has gone through two stages, namely, the process of concretizing abstract knowledge and the process of expressing concrete knowledge in abstract concepts ( Dang et al., 2020 ; Fang, 2021 ). The subject of the former is mainly teachers (learners may also participate in it), that is, teachers create a learning environment including information technology to provide visual learning support for learners; The main body of the latter is learners, that is, learners abstract the concrete content into concepts and models, and express them visually. In the interpersonal field, relevant strategies include: setting up cooperative research groups, and in most schools, the research groups are carried out continuously and daily; providing internship opportunities is a way for students to strengthen and cooperate their skills in off-campus situations. Because both of them focus on the cognitive level of learning, they pay less attention to the emotional level and social and cultural attributes of learning. Especially from the perspective of “complex learning environment” it is still necessary to deeply integrate the cognitive, social and technical aspects of learning. Therefore, it is still worth further discussion to apply the above two classification theories to the evaluation of deep learning. In the research, the corresponding algorithm formulas are established for analysis, such as formulas (7) – (10) plus (11) .

The deep neural network has a deep non-local learning structure, and it can learn the features in the data set with great changes from fewer samples, showing stronger feature recognition ability than the kernel method. At the same time, the learning process of RDFM method solves the over-fitting problem caused by too strong learning ability due to the introduction of regularization factors. According to Fisher’s criterion, the depth structured neural network is used to improve the discrimination of features. Deep neural network has a deep nonlocal learning structure and learns the characteristics of data sets with great changes from fewer samples. It shows stronger feature recognition ability than kernel method. At the same time, due to the introduction of regularization factor in the learning process of rdfm method, the problem of over-fitting caused by strong learning ability is solved. Experiments are carried out on various types of data sets, and the results show the necessity of using unsupervised regularization in the fine-tuning stage of deep learning. Experiments on image classification and learning low-dimensional representation of images with the depth unsupervised self-coding model realized by this nonlinear transformation method show that these transformations are helpful to learn the depth structure neural network with at least five hidden layers, which proves the effectiveness of the transformation, improves the speed of the basic random gradient learning algorithm, and helps to find a better generalized classifier. Deep neural networks such as convolution DBN and stack self-coding network have been used in speech and audio data processing, such as music artist genre classification, speaker identification, speaker gender classification and speech classification, etc., and very good learning results have been obtained ( Koops and Kuebel, 2021 ). DBN and stack self-coding network have shown good performance in a single image recognition task, successfully used to generate a compact and meaningful image retrieval representation, and have been used in large-scale image retrieval tasks with very good results.

Results and analysis

Study on the influence of music appreciation on students’ mental health.

The form of music appreciation teaching is mainly characterized by listening and appreciating, and the music works, because of its own structural style, are in the form of tension, which causes the conscious person to have a specific psychological reaction. Interpersonal relationship refers to the relationship between people established and developed in interpersonal communication, which reflects the contact degree of people in the depth, closeness, coordination and other psychological aspects. The vast majority of contemporary college students are only children, and they have developed the habit of self-centered thinking and dealing with problems. They show no cooperative spirit, no broad mind, and haggle over every ounce when dealing with others. Even though they are aware of the importance of interpersonal relationships, they often find it difficult to get along with others for various reasons. Music maintains mental health by promoting harmonious interpersonal relationships. Every one of us lives in the society, not an isolated existence, and personal mental health is inseparable from the society. The comprehensive functions of music appreciation are reflected in picture appreciation, field appreciation, self-appreciation and creative appreciation. Music appreciation can promote individuals’ mental health and alleviate their negative emotions. This conclusion has been confirmed by many psychological studies. In modern society, a large number of people are in a tense state of life, so physical and mental relaxation plays a great role in mental health. However, not every kind of music can make people relax. Music that can make people relax should generally meet the following requirements: the rhythm is less than the heartbeat, and the rhythm changes little. Music can include flutes, strings, guitars, etc., preferably concertos with soft melodies. With the formation of human self, there is a need to be cared for by others, that is, in one’s life, one hopes to feel warmth, care, sympathy, respect, recognition, etc. from related people. Listening to music can cultivate students’ sentiment, make them have noble spiritual realm, broader vision and mind, cultivate their image memory, creativity, imagination and observation, improve their understanding, perception, emotion and other abilities, and form a correct aesthetic view. Psychological energy is the psychological power, which can make people realize their subjectivity and needs, the courage, impulse willpower, feelings and emotions with various characteristics, etc. Psychological energy can affect the balanced and coordinated development of the dynamic system of human psychology, and it is the key. The psychological energy of college students exists in the form of tension, and the sound of music also stimulates the appreciators in the form of tension. The two kinds of tension combine and influence each other, so that students’ psychological energy can move and play smoothly. The sound of music forms a complete musical work through its constituent elements, such as loudness, pitch and timbre. Music stimulates human sensory organs through various elements of sound. In the teaching of music appreciation, teachers guide students to have emotional experience of music, and guide students to comprehend and feel through all kinds of information and details in music, so that students can integrate their emotions into music. At present, college students are full of energy, rich in knowledge and mature in physiology, and their emotional world is very colorful.

This paper investigates a vocational and technical college and a conservatory of music. These schools are representative, objective and universal, and they are all higher vocational colleges. The investigation lasted 4 months. Thousand questionnaires were distributed to the students of the above four schools, and 900 were recovered, with a recovery rate of 90%. Among them, there are 900 valid questionnaires, with an effective rate of 100%. In the study, the corresponding data graphs are established for analysis, as shown in Figures 4 – 6 .

Data map of music appreciation influence.

Music appreciation data map.

Data map of music appreciation research.

From the above data graph, it can be known that music appreciation has a great influence on psychological activities, up to about 54.3%. Personality is composed of three parts: id, ego and superego. I am the original self, which refers to the original self, including all the basic desires, vitality and impulses required for production. As the source of psychological energy, the ID only needs to be happy and avoid suffering. Happiness is the fundamental principle of the ID’s behavior, completely outside the social moral norms. The psychological energy of self is mostly consumed in the suppression and control of id. Anything that can become conscious is in the self, but it also exists in the unconscious in the self. It is the existence and awakening of self-consciousness. Self can separate desire from fantasy, endure tension and compromise, and change with time. In music appreciation, the appreciator’s self will be strengthened. Music appreciation teaching is a way to further deepen the influence of personality. On the basis of the original value of music, the harmonious development of people’s psychology can be further realized. Idealized personality must be the result of highly harmonious development of internal psychology. Pursuing truth, goodness and beauty also points out the direction for realizing the harmony of internal psychology. Superego is an ideal part of personality structure and a perfect self. I strive for perfection, and it does not care about reality or happiness. Because of the guidance of the superego, the heart will achieve a harmonious state, thus enabling people to live better in real life. Music appreciation can provide a beneficial direction for college students’ superego. Music appreciation is an important part of aesthetic education. To complete music appreciation education with high quality, the most direct thing is to have an excellent music appreciation teacher. An excellent music teacher should have all the excellent qualities of all teachers, including solid basic music skills and professional accomplishment. We should also have many other excellent qualities, such as innovative spirit, profound knowledge, correct aesthetics, etc. Teachers who have graduated from music colleges are more concentrated in their professional fields, and lack relevant knowledge of psychology. Teachers who have graduated from local comprehensive universities and normal colleges also have the same problems to varying degrees. Music psychology is based on general psychological phenomena, and constantly evolves in the process of the emergence, occurrence and development of music consciousness. Music psychology is not innate. It needs to gradually form music consciousness and psychological process with personality characteristics in the actual music activities and education, and in the process of continuous improvement of the brain. The process of continuous learning and acceptance in the growth stage is also the process of the formation of musical psychology. From infancy to adulthood and then to old age, it has experienced the whole process of occurrence, development and decline. Teachers of music majors should master and understand certain knowledge of psychology if they want to improve the mental health of higher vocational college students through music. Under the guidance of the syllabus of music education, corresponding teaching plans and requirements should be formulated for higher vocational college students of the same grade or different grades, so that students can study systematically in a planned way. In the teaching of music appreciation, we should learn from the advanced music ideas, and integrate the most advanced teaching ideas in the world into our own teaching methods, so as to enrich our teaching content and make our teaching methods more vivid. Music appreciation teachers can get the latest music ideas and know the latest research results by reading the latest professional music journals and magazines, so as to serve their own music appreciation teaching.

The psychological impact of music education on students

To study students’ mental health, we have to talk about psychology. Psychology is a subject with many branches. Psychology and music psychology provide theoretical basis for music education to solve students’ mental health problems from different angles. In the early stage, young people can not only look at themselves objectively, but also express themselves clearly, defend themselves sensitively, and cherish themselves, forming a rational self-consciousness. The ideal self and the realistic self are still facing the crisis of division, and self-affirmation and self-denial often conflict. Chronic anxiety symptoms develop slowly, but persist, usually for a long time. In terms of emotional disorders: I often feel distressed, self-reproached, always think of the disadvantages and exaggerate the difficulties when something happens. No moaning, often accompanied by fatigue, chest tightness, shortness of breath, irritability, sensitivity, frequent anxiety, loss of hands and feet, upset, restless, rubbing hands and feet, an unbearable discomfort, anxiety about one’s health, head swelling, face fever, etc. The fierce competition for talents in modern society often leads to college students’ involuntary study pressure and employment pressure, which gather in their hearts and cause obvious anxiety. Accordingly, college students will have the need to seek to relieve their inner pressure and anxiety. Music education is undoubtedly a “good medicine” to relieve college students’ psychological pressure. Music teaching can teach students about the height, intensity, timbre, melody, harmony, rhythm and other aspects of music, so that students can have a more comprehensive understanding of music, and then they can choose their own music independently, and enjoy their body and mind with the help of music. Excellent music plays a positive role in shaping a sound personality. With the help of classroom teaching and extracurricular music activities, music teaching provides a platform for college students to contact and appreciate excellent music works. In the research, the corresponding data graphs are established for analysis, such as Figures 7 – 9 .

Data map of music education impact.

Data map of music education impact effect.

Data map of music education research and analysis.

The beauty of music lies in being able to depict an exciting artistic conception through the intangible emotion of music. Compared with other arts, music is closer to nature, it is easier to express one’s feelings, and it can make the appreciator’s mind deeply moved, which can exert a subtle influence. As an auditory art, music exists through auditory feelings. Let students feel the aesthetic effect in listening, which can better promote students’ imagination beauty, and make music exert great influence on their minds through image, so that students’ body and mind are in a benign and healthy state of development. Because music originated from a long time ago in human society, it was originally for human beings to express their emotions and vent their bad emotions, so music is called “the language of emotions”. Music can penetrate into the deepest part of the soul with the strongest power. If the way of education is suitable, they will infiltrate the soul with beauty and beautify it. If there is no such proper education, the soul will be ugly. Undoubtedly, good music teaching methods can help middle school students enrich their inner feelings and perfect their personality charm. It can also enable middle school students to feel the wonder and beauty of the world. For many middle school students, the emotions conveyed by good music are like guides, leading middle school students’ thoughts to a positive perspective. Listening to good music often can make middle school students calm down and learn cultural knowledge, and can sublimate students’ emotions. Implementing music education is a pleasure in itself, and under its influence, students’ pressure from all sides will be relieved and released, thus reducing their anxiety in learning. One of the standards of mental health is to have good interpersonal relationships. People with mental health can always keep good contact with the society and others, and can correctly know and understand the society and others. Music appreciation teaching is also aesthetic education. Teachers should, according to the characteristics of the times, the age of students and other factors, on the premise of maintaining the richness of classroom teaching content, choose works with strong ideological content and typical representative significance for students to enjoy. Music psychology is a branch of psychology that studies and explains people’s music experience and music behavior from primitive (newborn) to advanced level, based on psychological theory, absorbing physiology, physics, genetics, anthropology, aesthetics and other related theories, and adopting the method of experimental psychology.

Music is closely related to students’ mental health. Music education can promote students’ mental health, enable students to relax themselves, express their feelings, release bad emotions, build harmonious interpersonal relationships, and help students establish a good mental health system. In terms of influencing factors and strategies to promote students’ deep learning, we should apply the research results to specific teaching situations with the help of advanced digital technology, and strive to combine theory with practice. The mental health of college students is an important part of quality education in colleges and universities, and music education plays an important role in the implementation of quality education. It is diversified, multi-faceted, multi-level and repeated to influence and educate people. The effects of music appreciation on college students’ mental health are analyzed and discussed in detail in this paper: the effects on college students’ mental health, mental energy, psychological structure and so on. The idea that music promotes people’s mental health has existed for a long time, and the related researches in the fields of music psychology, music therapy and music education psychology have become quite mature systems. However, for the specific group of primary and secondary school students, it should be said that it is relatively rare to consider using music education to promote their mental health. This paper summarizes the advantages of deep learning over shallow learning, explains the necessity of introducing deep learning, describes the data representation of deep learning and several typical deep learning models, such as convolutional neural network, DBN and stack self-coding network, explains the reasons that may cause difficulties in deep learning training, introduces effective training methods, and summarizes the new progress of deep learning research in recent years from four aspects: initialization method, selection of network layers and activation functions, model structure, learning algorithm and practical application. However, this study lacks large-scale data for training, and obtains a large number of more representative characteristic information. So as to classify and predict the samples, and improve the accuracy of classification and prediction. Therefore, there are certain limitations, and further analysis is needed in the future.

Data availability statement

Author contributions.

TW: conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, writing—original draft. YZ: conceptualization, validation, data curation, writing—original draft. MY: methodology, validation, data curation, writing—original draft. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.

Research and practice of general education of Aesthetic Education in Colleges and Universities from the perspective of “Internet +” (SJGZ20210071).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher’s note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Mudanjiang Normal University for its help in their work.

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Essay on Music And Mental Health

Students are often asked to write an essay on Music And Mental Health in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Music And Mental Health

Introduction.

Music is a universal language that touches everyone’s life. It can make us happy, sad, excited, or calm. But did you know that music also plays a big role in our mental health? Let’s explore how.

The Power of Music

Music has a strong influence on our feelings. Fast, upbeat songs can make us feel energetic and happy. Slow, gentle music can help us relax and feel calm. This is why we often listen to music when we’re happy or sad – it helps us express our emotions.

Music and Stress Relief

Stress can make us feel worried and anxious. But listening to our favorite music can help us feel better. It can lower our heart rate and make us feel more relaxed. This is why many people listen to music when they’re feeling stressed.

Music and Concentration

Music can also help us focus. For example, some students listen to classical music while studying because it helps them concentrate. So, if you’re having trouble focusing on your homework, try listening to some music!

Music is not just for entertainment. It also plays a big role in our mental health. So, next time you’re feeling stressed or having trouble concentrating, try listening to some music. It might just help you feel better!

250 Words Essay on Music And Mental Health

The magic of music.

Music is a powerful tool that can affect our mood and mind. It is a universal language that everyone understands, regardless of age or culture. Just like a good book, music can take us on a journey, helping us feel happy, calm, or even sad.

Music and Happiness

Listening to our favorite songs often makes us feel happy. This is because our brain releases a chemical called dopamine when we hear music we love. Dopamine is often called the “feel-good” hormone because it makes us feel joyful and excited.

Music as a Calming Agent

Music can also help us feel calm and relaxed. Slow, gentle music can lower our heart rate and reduce stress. This is why many people listen to music before they go to sleep or when they need to focus on their work.

Music and Sadness

On the other hand, music can also help us deal with sadness. Sometimes, listening to a sad song can help us understand and express our own feelings better. This can be a healthy way to cope with negative emotions.

The Healing Power of Music

Music therapy is a type of treatment that uses music to improve mental health. It can help people with anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues. In music therapy, people might write songs, play instruments, or just listen to music.

In conclusion, music has a profound impact on our mental health. It can make us feel happy, calm us down, help us deal with sadness, and even heal us. So, let’s appreciate the power of music and use it to improve our mental wellbeing.

500 Words Essay on Music And Mental Health

Music is a universal language that touches everyone’s life. It has the power to make us feel happy, sad, excited or even relaxed. But did you know that music also has a big impact on our mental health? Yes, it’s true! Let’s learn more about how music affects our mental health.

Music is not just a form of entertainment. It can also help us in many ways. When we listen to music, it can change our mood. For example, a happy song can make us feel good, while a sad song can make us feel emotional. This is because music can touch our hearts and minds.

Music and Emotions

Music has a strong connection with our emotions. When we listen to a song, it can bring back memories. These memories can make us feel happy or sad. This is why when we hear a song from our childhood, we often feel nostalgic. Music can also help us express our feelings. For example, when we are sad, we might listen to a sad song to let out our emotions.

Music as a Stress Reliever

One of the main benefits of music is that it can help reduce stress. When we are feeling stressed or anxious, listening to calm and soothing music can help us relax. It slows down our heart rate and makes us feel more at peace. This is why many people listen to music while studying or working, as it helps them focus and stay calm.

Music Therapy

Music therapy is a type of treatment where music is used to help improve mental health. In music therapy, people are encouraged to listen to, create, or move to music. This can help them express their feelings, improve their mood, and even improve their memory. Music therapy is often used to help people with conditions like depression, anxiety, and Alzheimer’s disease.

So, as we can see, music plays a very important role in our mental health. It can help us express our emotions, reduce stress, and even improve our mood. So, the next time you listen to your favorite song, remember that it’s not just a song. It’s a powerful tool that can help improve your mental health. So, keep listening, keep singing, and keep dancing to the rhythm of music!

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

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