Music Playlists to Soothe Your Mind
Neuropsychiatrist Galina Mindlin suggests that listening to particular songs on your mp3 player can make you a more productive person
- By Erica R. Hendry
- Photographs by Erica Freudenstein
- Smithsonian magazine, January 2012, Subscribe
In their new book, Your Playlist Can Change Your Life, Galina Mindlin, director of the Brain Music Treatment Center, and co-authors Don DuRousseau and Joseph Cardillo advise that repeated listening to carefully selected songs on an iPod or other device can help train your mind and make you more productive, calmer or more affectionate. Mindlin spoke with Erica R. Hendry.
Who should be doing this?
I think playlists will benefit everybody, especially people who want to relieve their anxiety, sharpen memory, increase concentration, improve their mood or even relieve pain. Also, shift workers can use the playlist after a sleepless night to increase their alertness when they have to drive home, or to calm themselves down. We can actually enhance relationships to switch people from confrontational mode to understanding. For example, after a disagreement with his wife, one gentleman played their wedding song.
It instantly brought him into a more sympathetic mood.
How do you tap into that without formal therapy and figure out what works for you in different scenarios?
It’s very important to choose something you already like and feel excited about. And then you have to play and replay the piece and learn that the piece makes you feel either calmer or more energized. Once you do that and tune into it, you see the effect on your mood and thinking in a matter of days or weeks.
How long does it take to put together a playlist that’s actually effective? Where should people start?
It really depends, and, I’ll add, we see this as fun. The brain usually likes things that are fun and are pleasurable. You can do this in your leisure time and we don’t think it’s that long -- If you know your genre, you know you like electronic or classical music, it doesn’t take that long, you just need to put it together. This is something that doesn’t work instantly, you need to practice it and see what works and adjust accordingly.
The process you describe isn’t really a passive exercise -- you even recommend using visualization, movement, scent with songs on your playlist. What do these elements do to your brain?
It’s important to combine the musical stimuli with imagery because when you do you activate more areas in the brain. When you’re feeling down you can recall a positive, exciting memory and connect that imagery with a strong, positive musical piece to “energize” your brain.
A lot of us fall into the habit of listening to the same songs over and over again. Can a playlist ever becomes less effective over time, or is this good for life, so to speak?
You have to update your playlist constantly, and you can really upgrade your list to stay current -- not using the most modern songs, which you could of course, but really checking in with what state of mind you’re in right now. Because you can get even more stressed out in life, or you can go through a major life event, so you might need a more calming, stronger effect and then have to update your playlist.
Creativity tends to be one of those things we think we’re either born with or not, but in the book you argue it’s something you can enhance or learn with music with a technique called scaffolding.
If you use musical stimuli in brain training you increase the amount of neuroconnections in your brain. The more connections you have the sharper your brain is and the more creative you get.
What about someone who feels anxious?
For relieving anxiety, we recommend you choose a piece of music you really like that will calm you down and soothe you. You pay attention and ingrain that piece in your brain. Now you can use the piece any time you get stressed out.
A lot of us assume faster songs mean happy, slower songs mean calm or sad. Is that always true?
Not always. A fast song with a high beats per minute can calm you down. That’s something we use a lot with people with attention deficit disorder, children and adults. It’s what we recommend to people who are striving for high concentration and focus.
There are a lot of musically challenged people out there
You don’t have to be Rachmaninoff to do a playlist. Everyone’s brain knows what kind of music it likes, if it makes you calmer or more excited or less anxious.
You just replay the piece and practice listening to it. Research confirms that the practice actually makes the change in the brain, not musical talent or ability.
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Comments (14)
I cant imagine using a playlist that somebody else compiled, it's such a personal thing. Plus, there are some of us who like to play the same song over and over while it would drive another person crazy.
Posted by Diane Gordon on May 16,2012 | 09:15 AM
nice one
Posted by on May 16,2012 | 07:59 AM
I'm extremely interested in commensing the playlist process ! Please direct me to where I can begin . Thank you very much . Sincerely , Karin Mintz
Posted by Karin Mintz on February 12,2012 | 03:08 PM
I mainly listen to Tibetan Mantra n Chants recorded by monks without any instruments but just the sheer purity of the Monk's human voices..I find the Ohm sound to be as calming, rhythmic and enhancing my moods to a higher state of awareness.I call my playlist 'meditative sounz' and use this playlist at least 2 hrs a day before I retire at night while reading a good book and first thing in the morning for 30mins.
Posted by Val on February 10,2012 | 04:18 PM
i dont know, i would liki to know more about that theraphy
Posted by fiorela on January 25,2012 | 11:27 AM
I've used music for years to cope with pain - along with self-hypnosis, guided imagery, trancing - whatever you'd like to call it. I always use it for dentistry and have even had a root canal without any anesthesia except music. I use it to calm down or to help fall asleep. It's also a great way to get information from my subconscious - when I find a particular song comes into my head, if I take the time to listen to it and think about it, I've had some times where I get an important insight about what I'm feeling or coping with emotionally.
Posted by Peg on January 23,2012 | 11:38 AM
I heard in a history class that the owners of the ships that were coming from Africa carrying slaves -who were tied up w. iron balls and chains, bewildered and lost, hungry, ill, etc,)- the slavers used to force the recently captives .dance even when they could hardly stand still. They knew that music made this unlucky individuals work with gusto and pride in their own lands, doing it to the rhythm and melodies of music. Music and brain are synced, and I can swear that it heals you whether it's being played when you're awake or asleep. It's the rhythm. We must have evolved usind sounds that imitated natural noises, like the rain, bird songs, etc. It's still a mystery how it works.
Regarding the intentional degrading of popular music to fit more bytes into a space, I believe it. But people don't even bother to go vote to keep our President, so they'll never rise up for quality of sound. However, you got it right!
Posted by maria mendelson on January 16,2012 | 07:19 PM
I actually have playlists on my Ipod called "feeling softly", "happy of living" and "80s spirit keep going"... That's some ideas people could improve.
Posted by Juan Jose on January 7,2012 | 11:27 PM
I am a music teacher in an elementary school, and my students took exception to your quote about different beats per minute making one person or another feel calm.
So, this is going to be the basis of a science experiment!
Thank you!
Posted by Dara Case on January 4,2012 | 09:29 AM
I only hope that the quality of the listening medium has been paid attention to in the study. As a musician and recording engineer, I find people are missing the detail and dynamics of most all music due to over compressing of both the music file, to allow more songs per byte, and the compression of the dynamic volume of the music itself. These both make for a flat line of musical intensity and a dulling of our sensory perception. It is a bit like taking a picture and washing out the color and blurring the image in order to get more pictures in the queue. I know from my own and others experience in listening that when the two forms are heard side to side the perception and emotion is deeply affected. Sometimes less is more, and epecially when the quality impacts the affect. Lets wake up and demand quality audio. It makes a big difference.
Posted by David Gower on December 28,2011 | 04:29 PM
This is wonderful! I have been doing this my whole life. When I love a song I play it over and over and over. I used to drive my family nuts when I lived at home. I still do it now in my own home. As soon as I read your article in the Smithsonian, I made my Peaceful Music Playlist on my Kindle Fire. I preordered your book yesterday and am looking forward to reading it on New Year's Day. Thanks for your great article, Pam
Posted by Pam on December 26,2011 | 10:22 PM
I could have told them this years ago. Music is the sole world where you can go to feel, heal or hide. It has comforted me, encouraged me, energized me and is a staple in my everyday life. I have playlists labeled for specific things and although I am a die-hard Manilow fan those play lists contain every kind of music from Big Band, Opera to current. Music is something that can be FELT and I am grateful for it.
Posted by Christine Cain on December 23,2011 | 03:06 PM
We ran across the idea of guided imagery at Tantara Records and the concept album "Escape to a Place of Peace and Calm" was born: classics and borderline crossover pieces designed to reduce the common stresses of everyday life, helping listeners use music to visualize a place of peace and calm, real or imagined. The Smithsonian article suggests further uses for the concept which I'm anxious to try. Thanks Ms. Mindlin and Messrs. DuRousseau and Cardillo.
Posted by Ron Simpson on December 22,2011 | 07:51 PM
Music has the power of rewiring the connections in our brains, but there has to be a cognitive component in using music to change your life. That's where thoughtful guided imagery comes in. It helps to clear the mind of unwanted thoughts and feelings so you can redirect your thoughts to a more positive state. Several suggested playlists and songs can be searched at the books Website: www.yourplaylist.co.
Happy listening,
Don
Posted by Don DuRousseau on December 20,2011 | 10:34 AM