Benefits of listening to classical music

You might know from experience that listening to classical music is enjoyable, even transporting. But it turns out that it’s also actually good for us! Studies have shown that it improves memory and creativity, reduces stress and boosts mental well-being.

Here are some of classical music’s impressive benefits.

Reducing blood pressure

You might notice a feeling of calm that comes over you when listening to classical music. A 2022 study reported by the National Institutes of Health details a physical explanation for how music lowers blood pressure and heart rates. The vagus nerve — the main nerve of the body’s parasympathetic nervous system — is located near the eardrum and responds to musical vibrations by triggering the body to relax. We just know it works. Try listening to a piece such as Ralph Vaughn Williams’ The Lark Ascending when you’re feeling stressed.

Healing properties and pain relief

A 2019 study by the University of Utah, published in Frontiers of Neurology, found that listening to music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, in particular, might help reduce pain and inflammation and improved oxygen saturation. And the International Journal of Critical Illness and Injury Science found in a 2012 study that intensive-care patients benefitted greatly from listening to Mozart’s Sonata for Two Pianos and Ludwig van Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata. The next time you’re laid up, cue up some Beethoven.

Better sleep

Listening to a calming classical piece before bed can help you sleep. (“Calming” is important — you might want to rethink putting on anything by Richard Wagner!) Through a process called “entrainment” — when your mind and body synchronize with your environment — music with a heartbeatlike tempo of about 60 beats per minute helps slow the heart and relax the body to facilitate sleep. Listen to Erik Satie’s hypnotic Gymnopedie No. 1 instead of reaching for your usual sleep medication.

Improved memory

The University of Helsinki found in a 2015 study that listening to only 20 minutes a day of classical music — in this case, Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 3 — can modulate the genes that regulate brain function and memory. The research team noted an increase in dopamine secretion and synapse function, which also slows down the brain’s aging process.

Alleviating depression, boosting well-being

A new study by researchers a the Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine in China discovered that classical music can be a powerful antidote to depression. The study found that the key is how much a person enjoys what they’re hearing. Patients who reported a higher level of happiness while listening to classical music showed significant improvement in their depression symptoms. The researchers said enjoyable music activates a complex network that makes up part of the brain’s reward circuit, which plays a crucial role in mood regulation.

Anecdotally, during the pandemic lockdowns of 2020, London’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra asked 8,000 U.K. residents about the role of classical music in easing feelings of isolation and depression. About 70 percent of people said listening to orchestral music improved their mood. How can you listen to George Frideric Handel’s “Arrival of the Queen of Sheba” and not feel your spirits soar?

In short, listening to classical music just feels good, whatever ails you!