A short YouTube segment from Dr. Don Wood (Day 9 of his "12 Days of Heart" series) advising listeners to use music to reduce holiday anxiety. Dr. Wood argues that listening to, singing, or dancing to music calms the nervous system, reduces blood pressure and pain, improves sleep, mood, alertness and memory, and increases endorphins; he frames music as a brain workout and encourages using it as a practical, immediate anxiety-reduction tool.
You.
Welcome to the 12 Days of Heart. If you remember, heart stands for holiday anxiety reduction tips. My name is Dr. Don Wood and I'm your guide throughout this series of anxiety reducing tips. We're now on to day nine. Time flies. So let's get into the holiday spirit. Gonna get my hat back on.
I really want it to snow here in Florida. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. Let's get Alexa engaged. Alexa, play holiday music.
Alexa, play holiday music.
Here's a station you might like. Holiday favorites on Amazon. Holiday favorites by Amazon Music.
Sounds like it's going to be a beautiful one. Oh, Mariah Carey. Mariah Carey. I love this song. So day nine, but reducing anxiety. So on the ninth day of Christmas, let's take a look at what true love gave to his love. So on the ninth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me.
Nine ladies dancing. Well, these were not birds again. We got ladies two days in a row. That's pretty cool. So we had the milking, now they're dancing. I'm wondering if it's the same maids that are now dancing. Maybe they just got off work, let their hair down, right? Get out and boogie a little bit. So maybe that's what it is. But we got nine now, so I don't know where the other one was. Maybe she was off. So nine ladies dancing. So if she's dancing and they're dancing, there must be music. And the nine tip is listen to music. Music calms the nervous system and there's lots of research to back that up. So let's take a look a little bit at this research. Right? And the research says if you want to keep your brain engaged throughout the aging process, not getting negative about getting old here, listening to or playing music is a great tool. It provides a total brain workout. How cool is that? Right? We exercise our body all the time. So getting a total brain workout, those are all the tips that we're giving you. Laughing, meditating, exercising, whatever you're doing, singing, listening to music. These are all tips to give your brain a workout. And I. Our brains need to work out as much as our bodies need to work out. And so that research has shown that listening to music can reduce anxiety. We knew that blood pressure and pain, as well as it improves sleep quality, mood, mental alertness and memory. So go back and remember this song. I remember this song. Right. This is a famous song for the holiday season. It brings back a flood of memories, which are all good. Reducing anxiety and increasing endorphins. So that's all positive. So whether you want to mellow out, whether you want to get energized, if you're so inclined, join the ladies and start dancing. Listening to music, singing music, engaging in dancing with music is all great for the brain. So it's impossible to be anxious. If you're listening to music or you're dancing or you're singing, I challenge you to try to do it right. It changes the chemistry in your brain. So music, enjoy it, have fun with it, use it whenever you feel the need to sort of get yourself moving. So continue to listen for more tips in your inbox. And there it is.
