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Five takeaways:

It is natural to experience periods of heightened worry, stress, and unease. Fortunately, research from numerous studies has provided us with effective techniques to calm an overactive, anxious mind. These are:

1. Use the 4-7-8 breathing method: This method requires you to sit comfortably, exhale through your mouth with a “whoosh,” then inhale for 4 seconds, hold for 7, and exhale for 8. Repeat three times. This practice helps calm the body and works well for sleeplessness, too.
2. Listen to this specially designed song: “Weightlessness,” an eight-minute song created by sound therapists, reduces stress by gradually slowing its beat from 60 beats per minute to 50 beats per minute, helping listeners’ heart rates sync and lower. The author noted that he returns to this song regularly for stress reduction.
3. Get 45 minutes of vigorous exercise: Research shows that exercise reduces anxiety, especially vigorous 45-minute sessions. However, anxiety was positively affected by moderate 80 minute exercise and 2 hours of light exercise. Of course, shorter, more intense workouts may be more practical for busy schedules.
4. Get some nature: Being in nature, even if only for a short walk, can have markedly productive effects on your anxiety. However you can– even if only along a commute, or putting plants around your desk– increasing your interaction with nature has proven positive effects on your mental well-being.
5. Save it for later: This is less about shutting anxiety off than it is making it manageable. You can address stress by actively deferring it. However you keep your schedule- by hand or via phone/computer, schedule a time later in the day to address the source of your anxiety. Writing down worries and dedicating time for them sets boundaries, often reducing their impact by the designated time.

The brain works in unexpected and impressive ways. We hope these tips help you manage the moments when its anxiety responses are working overtime.

By Bill Murphy Jr, for Inc.
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Four takeaways:

19th-century philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer believed that listening to music was one of the “oracles” that helped humans connect with the truth about life– that it opened up a unique channel of higher consciousness. This point of view is shared not only by other thinkers and philosophers, but also by scientists.

First: it is human instinct. Music has appeared in every human society ever documented. Styles differ from culture to culture, but the making and appreciation of music are ubiquitous across human life.

In 2018, a study conducted through the Berklee College of Music showed that our brains are built to enjoy and benefit from music. Music showed to pacify the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, access areas of memory dulled by Alzheimer’s disease, and decrease the frequency of seizures in those with epilepsy.

Music also has a clear emotional effect. Studies of brain waves have supported the remarkable ability of happy & upbeat music to induce greater happiness, and in sad or more aggressive music to make people feel understood or less alone in their unhappiness.

Brooks provides four tips for maximizing music’s innate effects to heighten emotional experiences and gain a deeper sense of meaning and self understanding:

1. Decide what you want from your music: Research shows that music can be used to bond socially. It also shows that it can intensify personal emotions. But it can rarely do both at the same time. If you want to feel a more raw emotional experience, listen or go to a concert by yourself.
2. Follow a recipe: Understand that music shown to elicit a more positive response is usually faster tempo, has specific chord changes, or is previously affiliated with positive memories. Create a catalog of songs that make you feel specific emotions, paying attention to each one’s characteristics– and the emotional response you usually have.
3. Learn and Grow: To expand and refine your music taste, think about the emotional and cognitive effects music has on you—try Italian opera like Puccini’s Tosca or La Bohème for love songs, or elevate the thrill of guitar riffs with flamenco virtuosos like Paco de Lucía.
4. Play it Yourself: Learning to play an instrument can enhance your connection to music, and heighten its emotional effect. Why not try it for yourself?

By the end of his life, Schopenhauer listened almost exclusively to one composer: the Italian Gioachino Rossini. He reportedly rolled his eyes up to heaven when listening to his music and speaking about it. Through research and diligence, you too can make music a part of your life that takes you into higher levels of consciousness and self-awareness.

From Arthur C. Brooks at The Atlantic:
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