Protect local news!

Be one of 5,000 supporters to make a monthly gift during our fall member drive and help strengthen our nonprofit newsroom.
Logged in as
Audience-funded nonprofit news
radio tower icon laist logo
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
Subscribe
  • Listen Now Playing Listen
AirTalk

Can music help alleviate stress, anxiety?

A woman looks at a functional magnetic resonance image (fMRI) showing the effect of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring and Kant's 3rd Critique on the human brain during the Wellcome Collection's major new exhibition "Brains: mind of matter" in London on March 27, 2012. AFP PHOTO / MIGUEL MEDINA (Photo credit should read MIGUEL MEDINA/AFP/Getty Images)
A woman looks at a functional magnetic resonance image (fMRI) showing the effect of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring and Kant's 3rd Critique on the human brain.
(
MIGUEL MEDINA/AFP/Getty Images
)
Listen 16:01
Can music help alleviate stress, anxiety?

You’ve probably heard that listening to music can be therapeutic.

It’s been said to have the ability to alleviate stress and anxiety --which is especially important at a time when we’re so technologically connected and constantly on-the-go. Matt Sachs studies brain and behavior science at the University of Southern California. Sachs said he is reluctant to recommend a specific song or genre because people are so different, but he did say that the general population finds New Age music to be particularly relaxing.  

Have you found a certain song or genre to be helpful in reducing stress?

Guests:

Jessica Grahn, associate professor in the Brain and Mind Institute and the Department of Psychology at Western University in Ontario, Canada

Matt Sachs, brain and behavior science doctoral student, University of Southern California