Fall is the perfect time to let go of the bad habits you developed during the long, hot days of summer and recommit yourself to doing what’s best for your body and living your best life. It doesn’t have to be as torturous as it sounds. In fact, making better choices should be easy and enjoyable. The best way to make that happen is with music.
10 Health Benefits of Music
Programming your playlist and your brain to be in sync is even easier with the new Live Conscious Spotify Music Playlist, filled with songs to inspire and keep you motivated. Try adding more music to your day, focusing on uplifting tunes, and selecting songs that speak to you. Some health benefits you can realize right away include:
♦ Improved mood
♦ Reduced stress
♦ Lowered blood pressure
♦ Increase in serotonin and endorphins
♦ Stimulation of memories
♦ Blood flows more easily
♦ Decrease in cortisol
♦ Boosts physical performance
♦ Increased endurance
Tips for Making Music Part of Your Ritual
We could cite stats and prove how beneficial music can be, but you already know how you feel the minute you hear your jam. So why not harness that power and turn it into something that works for you in ways you didn’t realize it could. Try these tips and see what results you get.
Categorize Your Favorites
You’re a person with a diverse taste in music, so you like many different genres. One day you feel like grooving to some 70s disco, and then the next day you’re in the mood for a little classic country. We get it. Everyone has a wide variety of music they like, and it’s often dictated by their moods. But what if you turned it around and began classifying your music by how it makes you feel. Then you can reach for your favorite energy-packed songs to prepare your body for a workout. Or, you can switch to some chill tunes when you need to wind down after a particularly stressful meeting. Knowing how specific songs affect you can put you in control of your emotions.
Have Some Foot Tappers
You don’t necessarily have to grab your favorite club tunes, but then again, that’s not a bad idea. Go through those old favorites that made you want to get up and dance. And if you couldn’t dance, they kept you hopping in your seat. These tunes are a fantastic way to revive your morning routine and prepare you for a serious workout.
The Chill Side of Your Routine
On the opposite side of a successful self-love routine are the steps you take to look and feel your best. These are the moments when you stop dancing in your seat and slow down to focus and breathe. Typically, these routines include some skincare, supplements, and a bit of stretching or relaxing. There might even be other elements you’ve adopted that turn these healthy “chores” into a more soothing and special time. Enhance your feelings of relaxation by playing music that soothes you and naturally promotes the production of endorphins and serotonin.
Take Advantage of Tech
You’ve got a Siri or Alexa system, right? Why not program it to help you achieve your goals and stick to a healthy routine. If your regular workout happens at 5:00 pm and at 4:00 pm your brain starts coming up with excuses to stay on the couch and skip your nightly run or spin class, take charge and change that pattern.
Have your personal assistant (Siri or Alexa) begin your playlist, starting with soothing songs and increasing in tempo until you’re more than ready to workout. Pretty soon, you’ll be moving and full of energy. Obviously, you can take that in the opposite direction and start playing soothing music before bedtime to help you relax and prepare your body for sleep.
Make the Most of BPM
A song’s beats per minute (BPM) is its tempo. A low BPM is a slower song, while a faster BPM gets your heart beating quickly and adds energy to your day. There are apps out there that will give you the BPM of a song, which you can use to customize your playlist. Simply picking your favorite songs for a workout playlist is nice, but it can have you come to a crashing standstill in the middle of a run or routine because the song, although a favorite, has a slow BPM. Dance classes have always used the science of BPM to sculpt their sessions to start slowly, then build to the big burn, and then wind back down again.
Try Some Classical Music
Classical music simply isn’t for everyone, but it should be. The studies that support the benefits of classical music on the brain are incredibly numerous and just as impressive. There’s no way around it; classical music does something inside your head that brings dynamic, positive results. Exponential results, in fact. So give it a shot; even if it’s just for half an hour a day, your brain will thank you.
Waking Up to Wellness
Creating healthy routines and establishing habits that focus on health and fitness is the best way to achieve your goals and live the life you want. That’s easy to say and understand, but it can be hard to put into practice. That’s what stops most people from doing all of the things they know they should – it’s difficult to follow through.
But there is a hack that can help you achieve all of these things – music. Listening to the right music can inspire you to move and be active. It can improve your workouts, help you relax and sleep better, and it can improve your mental health. The trick is not to simply turn on the radio or a streaming service, and the real benefit comes from custom-curated playlists. We’ve created the LC Spotify Playlist to help you get started and make it easy for you to dive into this approach. But we also suggest working on your own playlists. You know you best, and what songs speak to you and how you connect to them is entirely individual so take advantage of that. We know you can do it, and this hack is definitely going to help you get those healthy routines up and running again.
