{"id":28241,"date":"2024-12-05T15:09:50","date_gmt":"2024-12-05T15:09:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.londonpianoinstitute.co.uk\/?p=28241"},"modified":"2024-12-05T16:51:31","modified_gmt":"2024-12-05T16:51:31","slug":"piano-as-therapy-improve-your-mental-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.londonpianoinstitute.co.uk\/piano-as-therapy-improve-your-mental-health\/","title":{"rendered":"Piano As Therapy: Improve Your Mental Health"},"content":{"rendered":"

Using piano as therapy might be the key to improving your mental health – no pun intended.<\/p>\n

Mental health has become a big thing in our society today, with the media, government, schools and many more continuously spreading awareness about it.<\/p>\n

Did you know that over 284 million people are affected by anxiety alone! <\/p>\n

The world health organization states that 15% of working age adults have a mental disorder at any given time. It is a scary thought, but nevertheless hope is not lost. <\/p>\n

There are many ways in which one can help improve your mental health. <\/p>\n

The one that will be discussed in this article is by playing the piano.<\/p>\n

The leading mental health disorders are anxiety and depression, both of which the piano can help fight with. <\/p>\n

It is important to look after your mental health, since it affects almost every part of your day to day life. <\/p>\n

\"Woman<\/a><\/p>\n

The Science Behind Playing The Piano<\/h2>\n

Many studies have shown that playing piano improves mental health. <\/p>\n

The science behind this is due to the fact that playing music creates strong brain activity in both hemispheres, showcasing increased brain function. <\/p>\n

It also improves cognitive and intellectual abilities such as concentration and memory.<\/p>\n

Playing piano also affects your hormones, with research studies showing increased levels for human growth hormone – which slows some effects of aging. <\/p>\n

It also releases multiple other hormones which include serotonin, dopamine and endorphins. <\/p>\n

Dopamine, more commonly known as the \u201cfeel-good\u201d hormone, is both a hormone and a neurotransmitter that sends chemical signals between nerve cells in the brain and body. <\/p>\n

It produces feelings of happiness and joy which contributes to helping overall mental health. Serotonin replaces negative emotions with positive ones and endorphins induce feelings of joy and pleasure. <\/p>\n

Clearly you are just one key away from feeling happy and improving your mental health. <\/p>\n

Did you know that playing the piano can also improve your self-esteem? <\/p>\n

By mastering a difficult piece or passage can help you feel good about yourself and increase positive thoughts about yourself. <\/p>\n

Self esteem is important to have because it influences your entire life. <\/p>\n

How you see and value yourself, your mental well-being and your motivation. <\/p>\n

Self esteem can also affect your relationships positively or negatively depending on the view you have on yourself. <\/p>\n

Decision-making is another aspect that is influenced by self esteem. <\/p>\n

If you have a very low self-esteem you tend to feel less capable which can lead to never taking risks or growing as a person.<\/p>\n

\"Hands<\/a><\/p>\n

Putting Piano Therapy In Practise<\/h2>\n

The piano makes it possible for emotional expression. <\/p>\n

You can play melodies that express emotion whether sadness, joy, anger or whatever. <\/p>\n

Has anyone ever told you: \u201cdo not let your emotions get all bottled up within you\u201d? <\/p>\n

They are not wrong, bottling up your emotions can lead to stress on the body and risk developing mental health disorders. <\/p>\n

Although there are things you have to verbally process, using the piano as an emotional outlet is still good for improving overall mental health. <\/p>\n

Using the piano as a stress reliever is a great way to help fight anxiety. <\/p>\n

Everytime you play the piano, it lowers the cortisol levels – the stress hormone – and in turn reduces stress. <\/p>\n

In the UK alone, over 8 million people have an anxiety disorder. <\/p>\n

Playing the piano also lowers your blood levels which is another way it reduces stress.<\/p>\n

Many people experience feelings of loneliness, thus participating in group lessons can also help reduce those negative feelings. <\/p>\n

Here at London Piano Institute one of our piano lessons options are group lessons! <\/p>\n

Group lessons are a fun way of meeting new like-minded people. Having friends is good for the soul and can ultimately improve your mental health as well.<\/p>\n

\"Grand<\/a><\/p>\n

Why Choose The Piano?<\/h2>\n

Using music as therapy in general can be therapeutic, so why use the piano specifically? <\/p>\n

Well, a main reason is due to the suitability and accessibility of the piano. <\/p>\n

It is easier to start learning the piano than many other instruments which makes it more of a suitable choice for almost everyone. Beginner or advanced. <\/p>\n

Another reason for choosing the piano is because it is one of the most popular instruments in this day and age, which means it is highly accessible. <\/p>\n

Making it easy to get your hands on the instrument.<\/p>\n

The piano is an instrument where both hands can play a melody. <\/p>\n

It is uniquely differentiated to other instruments because it can play up to ten notes simultaneously. <\/p>\n

Playing with both hands stimulates brain activity which promotes memory. <\/p>\n

As discussed earlier in this article, the piano holds a lot of benefits both physically and mentally.<\/p>\n

Another reason to choose the piano above all other instruments, is again due to its popularity. <\/p>\n

Finding piano teachers is as easy as falling off a log. <\/p>\n

Thanks to the popular demand, it is almost effortless searching for a piano teacher to help improve your skill level. <\/p>\n

What does a teacher have to do with therapy you might ask? <\/p>\n

Well, the more you know and the higher your skill level, the easier it becomes to truly express yourself without getting frustrated at the little you might know. <\/p>\n

\"Man<\/a><\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/h2>\n

According to the American Psychological association, it is stated that mental health issues have significantly increased in young adults over just the last ten years! <\/p>\n

Various other studies and cases revealed the same thing, stating mental health is only getting worse over time. <\/p>\n

This article\u2019s purpose is not to scare you, but rather inform you on the reality we live in and how we can beat the odds. <\/p>\n

Playing the piano can help your mental health as proved by numerous researches like the National institutes of health. <\/p>\n

Whether you are just having a bad day or are in need of an outlet, the piano is the way to go. <\/p>\n

It is therapeutic and the best part, it is free! Never underestimate the power of the piano!<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":28250,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[369],"tags":[421,420,422],"class_list":["post-28241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music-and-health","tag-music-therapy","tag-piano-as-therapy","tag-piano-playing-benefits"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonpianoinstitute.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonpianoinstitute.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonpianoinstitute.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonpianoinstitute.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonpianoinstitute.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28241"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonpianoinstitute.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28241\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28243,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonpianoinstitute.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28241\/revisions\/28243"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonpianoinstitute.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonpianoinstitute.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonpianoinstitute.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonpianoinstitute.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}