Opinion: Soothe your jangled nerves with a gift of music
By Sara Golling
Things to help us feel better are welcome during a season that can be hectic, stressful, demanding – and, for many, isolating and lonely. The demands of holiday entertaining can raise blood pressure levels and jangle nerves.
Soothing music, designed to be calming and healing, might help, and is guaranteed to cause fewer problems than resorting to the anaesthetizing effects of alcohol, too many carbs or other substances. For all or most of the suggested links below, there may be ads – be sure to skip them ASAP, because ads can increase irritation and anxiety.
Here’s an album that works wonders for many people ; it’s “Healing” by David Bradstreet:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRObeilfrwY
The next offering has been said to reduce anxiety and blood pressure, and was designed to do that with input from neurologists, so give it a try. If it works for you, that’s wonderful. If it doesn’t, just turn it off — that’s what I did — and try another one in this list. This is the two-hour version of “Weightless” by Marconi Union:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YM_qqkfpG6k
If you liked the two-hour version and wished it could go on all day, here it is – for ten hours:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYnA9wWFHLI
If your tastes run to the soothing effects of classical music, try this compilation of Mozart, Chopin, Debussy, and Tchaϊkovski:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPaByTt1Yws
Another album bills itself as “Tranquility music … light music for the soul” and provides just over three hours of pleasant and calming melody, with images from nature in the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHO_bJc3OtM
An album called “Serotonin Release – Alpha Waves for Serotonin and Endorphins … meditation music” is another one designed to ease jangling nerves and calm anxiety:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPqCRyzhXn8
There are many other choices out there, too, so you can seek and find others that you like.
Of course, the very most effective way to use music to improve mood and relieve anxiety is to make the music yourself — by singing or playing an instrument, or both. Feeling lonely? Sing in the shower – the acoustics are so satisfying there. If you’re alone, you’re free from worrying about whether your voice is wonderful, or whether you can carry a tune; you can roar or shriek or hum if you like. Or play an instrument wherever you can, with friends or solo.
Another way to feel better, of course, is to give help to someone who needs it, and not just during the holiday season. Volunteering with a charity that provides food and shelter for the needy or homeless is just one possible suggestion.
The Rossland Telegraph wishes everyone the happiest possible holiday season, and the best possible future. Let’s all direct our minds and actions toward what is most likely to accomplish those things. Listening to soothing music is one step in that direction, so do give some of these pieces a try.
