Monday Wellness Reflection

Here is a link to this presentation: 

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1GWQCxRh2lqS35KoIcmU-1ubmw8O0KsoS43_y_-aCimQ/edit#slide=id.p 

I choose this topic because music has always been a big part of my life. I'm a dancer so without music my art form wouldn't be as vibrant or appreciated as it is now. Music has been a great outlet for me especially this year, with lots of homework and tests and overall stress that comes along with it. Listening to music while doing homework or studying calms me down and lets me focus better. So, naturally I was interested in how this scientifically actually worked. 

It was really interesting to see that the people in our class all had very different tastes in music. I somewhat just assumed people would all like pop and then have some sort of other preference, but what we found was the opposite. Some people were die hard alternative rockers, some had a passion for country, and others really liked classical. More scientifically speaking, we found that dopamine does a lot more than just make you feel better. It actually affects the flow of information from other parts of the brain to the frontal lobes, which affects memory, problem solving skills, and attention span. I also didn't know that it affected cortisol levels, lots of studies showed that listening to music you like lowers your cortisol levels. 

This topic is important for health and wellness, because it affects two important signals of the body, cortisol and dopamine. Cortisol is a hormone that affects stress and anxiety and like I previously learned in my Anatomy class, too much stress is bad for your health. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that affects the frontal lobe of brain which controls memory, problem solving skills, and emotional expression. Which are important skills for everyday life. On top of these things Dopamine is known as the "feel good" neurotransmitter and promotes positivity and healthy attitude.

On a scale of 1 to 10 I would give my project a 9.5. The project was long enough, had appropriate activities and information. But I felt as though we could of asked for specific songs and genres, instead of just genres so we could more accurately compare like and dislike. The information could have gone more in depth, but i felt it was a good amount and type.

I thoroughly enjoyed this topic and I want to learn more about how music affects health. Such as how do certain notes, lyrics, beats, etc., affect the human brain.