When words fail you, music is the key. Creating a kickass playlist to support your mental health, can help you get out of a funk. Listening to music can promote emotional health, help cope with stress, and boost psychological well-being.
It should come as no surprise that music can influence your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors – think about your favorite song that gets you fired up or a song that makes you cry and it’s easy to see how influential music can be.
When you are dealing with mental health challenges, as part of your toolbox to help you, creating a playlist can be part of your self-care plan. Think about your top 10 songs that uplift you and help you get through the day.
Research indicates that music reduces and can help you manage your stress. The same way listening to sad music can lead you to tears, when you’re feeling frustrated and stressed out, hitting that play button on your playlist can help you get through it.
Mental health challenges may come about due to pain (emotional or physical) and research shows that listening to music can help you cope with pain management. Whenever I lead a workshop on how to self-manage one’s pain, music is always a tool that is mentioned by the participants.
If you are experiencing insomnia due to stress, worry or anxiety, then creating a playlist with music that is calming and relaxing can help you improve your sleep. The research found that listening to music can be an effective treatment for sleep problems.
Being intentional about your own well-being can be a challenge when dealing with mental health issues. But there’s a study that’s been done that supports the notion that if you intentionally try boosting your mood to improve your emotional well-being, that you will start to feel better.
The trick is to remind yourself to listen to your playlist to support your mental health which you can do with sticky notes or reminders on your phone to listen to your music.
And I am so thrilled that my friends from Losing September have made it their mission to help create awareness around mental health through music. I wrote about the announcement of this festival here!
Join us July 24th + 25th in Pipestem West Virginia for the Rise of the Loser Festival and discover new songs to add to your playlist!
Go like this page so you can get updates as they are being released!
