Music is often recognized as a tool used for self-expression. It benefits more than just entertainment.

For high school students, music is a vital aspect of improving their mental health and well-being. Students often feel pressure for academic success, many frustrated hours of studying, and a piling up stack of homework. At an age where stress often runs high, many turn to music as a way to take their minds off their busy worlds.

From rhythmic beats making the heart happy to the melodies that touch one’s deepest emotions, music has the sense to heal, inspire, and uplift. It acts as a source of escape from real-life struggles to positively help the lives of students.

Boosting Mood
Certainly, listening to music helps to boost mood, better feel mood, or break free from one’s current mood. Music helps to hear one’s feelings given to them directly through song. It helps to feel what the listener is feeling well and understand themselves.

“I like listening to music because it never fails to make me happy.” ~Brooke Coll, Sophomore

Listening to a happy song embellishes happy emotions. Upbeat songs tend to make people feel as if all of their pain is on hold, just wanting to enjoy the moment in the length of the song. Listening to sad songs can also help people by having the ability to relate to what they are hearing.

Figuring out life through songs benefits students’ mental health by allowing them time to boost their mood with whatever genre of music evokes their happiness. When people can adjust their emotions, it improves mental health.

“It helps me escape for a little bit to relieve my mind.” ~Arianna Cramer, Sophomore

Reducing Anxiety
Listening to music every day can help to relieve stress and anxiety. When a panic attack occurs, it leads to being flooded with strong feelings of fear. A heart rate increase, obsessive thinking, and difficulty breathing are all common too. Music can help relieve stress by helping to escape those feelings and focus on what the listener hears. When people focus on the words filling their ears, their minds can be removed from a stressful situation.

“Music helps me tune out the rest of the rest of the world and distract me from stress and anxiety.” ~Samara Pedicone, Junior

Social anxiety causes people to be overwhelmed in social situations. People tend to avoid their stressors. Listening to music can help one overcome whatever they are trying to avoid. When feeling uncertain and high volumes of fear, calming one’s nerves through music makes people feel as if they are no longer struggling with strong feelings of stress.

Broadening Imagination
Generally speaking, being surrounded by music broadens the imagination and new thoughts allowing a sharper mind. Finding new music is a way to express people and define who they are as a person. Listening to a variety of music with open-ended interpretations is a chance to relate it back to the world around them. It is a way to spark new conversations about topics that may take work to talk about.

“Music makes me feel heard and understood on a level that nothing else can.” ~Cali Dyche, Junior

Certain topics may be hard to talk about, especially for school students, but music can help to make conversation about relatable topics that songs are based around. This helps to connect with others who may share the same interests with themselves. The open-ended interpretation of songs sharpens imagination by allowing people to interpret in their own way and connect with songs however they allow themself to relate.

Moreover, distracting the mind broadens the imagination to take the mind off of a situation. When a person’s mind is taken off of a situation, they have a “cleaner mind” to have a bigger imagination. Imagination is the key to success and the development of people. Distracting a person by listening to music is like temporarily taking a break from yourself. When people distract themself, they have a sharper mind to become more creative.

Overcoming Depression
Depression often causes loss of focus leading to memory loss and trouble concentrating. Focusing and/or feeling the words to help move through life is helpful for concentration. Music helps sharpen memory and helps to remember and associate memories with certain events or to make someone recall something that was important.

“It helps me focus on simple tasks and homework. It also puts me in a better state of mind.” ~Cam Mihulsky, Sophomore

For students, when going through a tough time, picking songs with a different storyline than what someone is challenged by can help to see through the darkness and see into other scenarios. Listening to music aids in transforming feelings which can lead to temporarily feeling new emotions such as joy or happiness.

Seeing new perspectives through song may push listeners to feel how they are feeling in a new way. Understanding the music and creating a picture of where one wants to mentally be can be very beneficial to mental health. Music can help people get the motivation to keep going. When people feel better mentally, it leads to feeling stronger. When people feel stronger, they are capable of doing more.

Music provides many benefits, especially as a means of taking a break from the world for a little while. For high school students, the benefits of music hold very crucial elements that can help improve their mental health and well-being.