Music and its Effects on the Brain by Dylan Pavlisin

As a musician I can personally speak volumes about how many times my brain seems to have been influenced by music. I have always wondered why music has so many different effects on my emotions and mental abilities. Therefore I decided to look into how music effects the emotions of the brain, how a person can use music to improve their daily lives, and whether learning how to play music at a young age can improve a persons mental abilities outside of the musical realm.

Music can have a tremendous impact on a person’s brain. This is due to music’s ability to stimulate various parts of the brain. Due to this ability, music can become a great therapeutic or mood- changing tool. Several properties of music reach out to the different parts of the brain. Music’s rhythm, pitch, meter, and timbre all affect various parts of the brain. Music reaches out to both the left and right brain hemispheres. This is due to the fact that rhythm and pitch are generally left brain hemisphere functions. Where as, timbre and melody are generally right brain hemisphere functions. On top of this meter is processed in both hemispheres. It would appear as though music reaches out to a large portion of your brain. (How Music Affects the Brain 2012)

While it is clear that music affects our brain, what can we do to make sure we are using it to improve our daily lives? Music can help a person overcome several different emotions, adversities, and even improve certain thought processes. Lets have a closer look at some of these.

Have you ever felt extra stress or anxiety before an important event, such as a big test or a job interview? Music may just be able to help you. Music has been known to act as a way to fight off stress and anxiety. This is mainly seen when a person listens to the right soothing music during these stressful times. Soothing music has been known to reduce the level of the stress hormone cortisol. It is important however, that you make sure that you are listening to the right type of soothing music for yourself. You should not just listen to soothing jazz music because it is know to be soothing. If you hate jazz, you should definitely avoid it if you are trying to release stress. Try listening to music that you enjoy and that helps you relax. For example, I am not super into jazz. It can bore me at times. I have found that nothing calms me down more than funky music. It is all about finding the music that helps you feel the least amount of stress. (How Music Affects the Brain 2012)

Do you find yourself constantly getting sick? Music can actually help you with this as well. Music has become a well know immune system booster. Upbeat dance music has actually been known to help a person fight off sickness. The hypnotic beat and rhythm of the music can stimulate the brain and send it into the alpha state. This is where the brain begins to release endorphins and healing hormones. This also another way music can help you release stress as well. (How Music Affects the Brain 2012)

            Another way music has personally helped me in my daily life is by improving my exercise. Upbeat and fast paced music can serve as a point of focus for your brain. This can help keep your mind off of the aches and pains you are feeling when exercising. Not only does it help take your mind off of the pain, but it also can motivate you to work harder. The rhythmic drumbeats of this type of music can help motivate your body to work harder. The human heart will actually entrain itself to the beat of the music. Therefore the heart will match the fast paced tempo of the music. (How Music Affects the Brain 2012)

            Do you ever find yourself constantly forgetting things? Music can actually help with that as well. While it is not proven that it actually helps your memory, several studies have shown that listening to certain types of music can actually help your brain with memory recall. One popular type of music studies have found to work best for memory recall is classical music, such as Mozart or Beethoven. This led to the popular “Mozart Effect.” This was the idea that listening to Mozart as a baby will make your child smarter. While it may not make your baby smarter, it can potentially improve certain mental tasks, such as spatial- temporal reasoning. (How Music Affects the Brain 2012)

            I started learning music at the age of 13.  I have had several people tell me that learning music at a young age can actually help promote several mental abilities. I had always wondered if that was true. I did notice that young kids who picked up music at a young age, seemed to learn it a lot quicker than people who tried to learn later in life. This led me to question whether learning to play music at a young age could actually improve certain mental abilitites.

            Laurel Trainor is the director of the Institute for Music and the Mind at McMaster University. She and her colleagues compared preschool children who received musical training with preschoolers who did not receive musical training. Those who received musical training showed much greater brain responses on several sound recognition tests. This study shows that musical training can actually modify the brains auditory cortex. Trainor believes that musical training can affect a child’s memory and attention. She also believes that it can help serve the brain across several other domains. She does reinforce that passive listening will not have the same effects as actual musical training. (Schewe 2009)

            Gottfried Schlaug is a Harvard University researcher. He did several studies regarding musical training in early childhood. His results were outstanding. They showed not only an improvement in motor and auditory skills, but also an improvement in verbal ability and non-verbal reasoning. His findings actually suggest that this “increase of basic auditory musical perception skills of children with dyslexia may also remediate some of their language deficits.” (Schewe 2009)

            Music definitely has several positive effects on the brain. It can be used to help a person with daily tasks, health, and emotions. It can also help young children improve several mental abilities. It has even been known to help remediate the effects of dyslexia. It would appear as though music may be the cure that many people need in their daily lives. I am very happy that I decided to start playing music. My only regret was that I didn’t start playing earlier in life.

Resource List

How Music Affects the Brain: The Power of Music. (2012, January, 23).

retrieved 2014, November, 22, from OMHARMONICS Web Site: http://www.omharmonics.com/blog/how-music-affects-the-brain/

Schewe, P (2009, November, 6). Music Improves Brain Function.

retrieved 2014, November, 22, from Livescience Web Site: http://www.livescience.com/7950-music-improves-brain-function.html

           

The Tragedy of the Poor by Alan Quinones

            Adam Smith wrote, "The real tragedy of the poor is the poverty of their aspirations." When people live in poverty not only to they have a completely lower quality of life than others who do not live in poverty, but their aspirations and goals are very small and almost meaningless compared to others. We have all had aspirations and goals in life since we were children, but how did we come to have those? Not only were we encouraged by our parents and life experiences, but we were also influenced by what we participated in as adolescents growing up. As we grow, extracurricular activities are crucial for positive development. Santrock wrote, " High-quality extracurricular activities that are likely to promote positive adolescent development have competent, supportive adult mentors, opportunities for increasing school connectedness, and opportunities for improving skills ( Santrock 354)." He is basically saying that the quality of the extra- curricular activities matter because they will promote positive development and growth as the adolescents grow. What this means for those adolescents in poverty is that they will not have the same opportunities as those who are in better schools and communities because they do not have the same funding. This funding will be determined by the economic state of the neighborhood in which they are in. The lower income the area is, the lower amount of money they will receive, or they may not even receive any money for these programs at all. Many times they will attempt to gather government funding which is very difficult to do because of the lack of, and the process as well.  

            When the funding in these low income and poverty filled areas do not get to the school and community centers to create these after school programs and extracurricular activities, not only to these adolescents not get the same opportunity to development in a more positive manner, but they may also turn to negative ways to keep themselves busy. In an article discussing community violence, Kennedy states, "Time spent with

older peers and time spent in public outdoor places was associated with greater exposure to community violence. Moreover, such unstructured, outdoor time with peers is linked to behavioral and academic problems for low-income adolescents in dangerous neighborhoods (Kennedy 665)"  This proves that the time not being spent in a productive manner will now be spent doing illegal activities which now leads to even more issues and problems for the youth in poverty. For example, when the youth is not spending their time in productive ways they turn to other means of entertainment which is not always the best. This includes committing crimes such as using drugs, vandalism, and burglary. This then leads to them having a criminal record with just creates even more issues. This is a horrible cycle that we see on an everyday basis in these neighborhoods, and many times these adolescents do not see a way out of that lifestyle since it is all they have to rely on Not only do these extra-curricular activities help the adolescents development and have positive experience but they also help them academically like we discussed in class.

            Adolescents also academically benefit from the extra-curricular activities because many times these programs have some sort of assistance with math and science (Santrock 355). Personally, I have seen that these courses are the most difficult for students, and getting assistance after school can be an immense help. The issue with this after school help is that it may require teachers to stay after school, and this requires them to get paid more in some occasions. If the school is in an area  in which this type of funding is not available then it highly unlikely that the students may receive the help even though they really need it and they also know they would benefit immensely from it. They benefit by not only being able to better their grades in that one class, but it may even change their outlook on academics in general. They may go from having a negative perspective on it to having a positive outlook and even wanting to go to college. Many times this kids have rough lives, but all it takes is that one teacher that really cares for them to change them completely and without these academic programs those chances are becoming slimmer and slimmer. They have to realize that yes we may be spending more on these after school programs but what can come out of them greatly out ways the economic point of it.

            Overall, adolescents in these communities with a lot of poverty will not receive the same opportunity as others who are not in the same economic situation as them. It is known that extracurricular activities not only help them develop in a more positive way, but it also assists them economically. Without this help, they are falling more and more behind, and are more prone to fall into a negative lifestyle in which the cycle will keep repeating itself.  This issue will only be addressed correctly when the poverty gets addressed, and we live in a society in which we refuse to address it, or continue to address in methods that do not work . This entire issue can also lead into a discussion about inequalities since we know this mostly affects Latinos and Blacks since they are the ones how live in these neighborhoods the majority of the time.

Works Cited

Kennedy, Traci M., and Rosario Ceballo. "Latino Adolescents' Community Violence       Exposure: After-School Activities And Familismo As Risk And Protective        Factors." Social Development 22.4 (2013): 663-682. Academic Search Complete.    Web. 19 Nov.2014.

Santrock, John W. Adolescence. New York: McGraw-Hill Education,Print.

Pregnancy and Poverty: Correlations and Causes by Berit Ericson

                According to the Global Post, between the ages of 15 and 19, 330,000 girls will get pregnant (Global Post). Many of these pregnancies are seen among girls who are living in poverty at the time the child is conceived. Poverty and teen pregnancy are often seen as going hand in hand in the mindset that teenage pregnancy causes poverty. In actuality, poverty is more of a cause of pregnancy than the way that most people see it. Teenage pregnancy rates in poverty-filled neighborhoods are much higher than in middle or upper class areas.

                Teenage pregnancy has been a huge problem in the United States. As a developed country, the United States has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the world (Christian Science). However, the rates of pregnancy have gone down in the United States significantly in the last two decades, almost 40 percent decreased in the years past (Christian Science). There are many reasons why teen pregnancy in poverty is still so high, even though the national average has gone down. Women living in poverty are in despair. They do not have everything that they need and are not able to be fully functioning members of society because they do not have the economic standing to be able to join society in a full manner. “Teens who experience despair are more likely to turn to motherhood as a way to find meaning in a world where they see few other options” (Christian Science).  These women have nothing in their lives as it is. They are looking for a way to feel needed and important. Children can provide that. While they may not necessarily plan to have a child, they may choose to keep it instead of having an abortion so that they have meaning in their lives. Abortions are at a much lower rate in areas of lower economic status than in areas of higher socio-economic status (Christian Science). These women are choosing to keep their children as a way to give them something in their lives that is good and that they can treasure. 

                For families in poverty, sex education is not often considered a priority.  Schools in low socio-economic status neighborhoods do not often have the funding to be able to provide sexual education classes to their students so they are left generally aware of the information that would be beneficial to them in their relationships.  Families with low incomes also generally do not have enough extra funding to provide contraceptives or birth control to their children (Global Post). These adolescents in these families may not have any access at all to birth control or other forms of contraceptives and so practice remedial methods of contraception that oftentimes do not work as intended.  At least half of the students report no birth control being used at all (Global Post). This proves the point that birth control is unavailable to students in low income and social economic status families.

                A lack of sexual education leads to students knowing next to nothing about how their own bodies work. Many of the reported teenage pregnancies occur because adolescents living in poverty are unaware of the fact that they could get pregnant at the time that they had sex. Many girls do not know how their menstrual cycle works or when they are most likely to get pregnant so they guess as to when they can have sex without any risks. Almost 1/3 of adolescents did not think they could get pregnant from having sex when they did (Global Post). These teens did not receive proper sex education and simply did not know what they needed to to be able to take care of themselves and protect themselves.

                There are many factors that affect teenage girls who may become mothers. Teen pregnancy is more likely if the girl’s mother gave birth as a teen, if the parents were not married when the child was born, or if the mother did not graduate or get her GED. These three factors compounded make up a 64% chance for that child to become pregnant. Two of these give a 42% chance, and one factor places that child with a 27% chance of having a child of their own when they are a teenager, in comparison to the 7% chance that a teenager has with none of these factors in play (Global Post). Teenagers who are born to teenage mothers automatically have a much higher chance of having children of their own early in their young lives.

                Many researchers speculate that “the combination of being poor and living in a more unequal society contributes to a low perception of possible economic success, and hence leads to choices that favor short term satisfaction-in this case the decision to have a baby while young and unmarried” (Reality Check). Teenage girls who become pregnant, instead of aborting the baby, choose to have the child to have a small piece of something in their lives to make them happy. Having a child while young and unwed can be seen as a poor decision, but for adolescent girls living in poverty, that child can also be seen as a source of happiness. The child will give them something and someone that is relying on them and will give them someone to live for and fight for.

                There is a way to alleviate the percentage of teenage mothers living in poverty. Even low income schools need to be able to provide sex education programs in their schools. Students living in poverty should not be the ones to suffer from a lack of education, especially not a sexual education. There are things that every adolescent male and female need to know before engaging in sexual activity. These facts and figures need to be made known to prohibit unwanted pregnancies and abortions that take place. Students deserve to know the information about sexual activity, especially about contraceptives. There are many ways and methods to prevent teenage pregnancies, but for students in low social economic status labeled neighborhoods, their schools are not providing this information. Without the knowledge, students are left resorting to methods that are by no means fool proof, and could still easily end in pregnancy.

                Teenage pregnancy rates will decrease with improved economic opportunities, reduced poverty rates, and improved prospects for adult outcomes (Christian Science). These three things are major factors to reducing teenage pregnancies in poverty-stricken areas and also follow hand in hand towards improving lives and living conditions. If teenagers are provided with economic opportunities in their neighbors, whether they have children or otherwise, they will be able to earn a living as a way to better their lives and the lives of their families as well.  The capability to have a job and work for a living will help to reduce the poverty rates in these neighborhoods so that girls born to teenage mothers do not also become teenage mothers later in their lives. This follows as a way to improve adult outcomes. Daughters are not necessarily following in their mothers footsteps and may be able to move away from the path that their family was on in poverty.

                Teenage pregnancy in poverty is not a good thing, at least to the average middle class American citizen. But it is a reality. It is something that people in impoverished neighborhoods are dealing with every day. So many girls have children when they are still in high school. These children are raised in poverty, but are not the cause of that poverty. Their mothers  were already impoverished before they were born. For many of these children, they are to be the third generation born into this kind of despair. Their families are not able to provide for them well, but they are able to love them.  Poverty itself is not caused by teenage pregnancy. Poverty is in place already before the adolescent becomes pregnant or has a child. These two things, poverty and pregnancy, are related, but not the way that people often assume. Pregnancy comes as a result of poverty and something must be done about that.

Works Cited

Hanes, S. (2012, May 22). Teenage pregnancy: High US rates due to poverty, not promiscuity. Retrieved November 16, 2014, from http://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Family/Modern-Parenthood/2012/0522/Teenage-pregnancy-High-US-rates-due-to-poverty-not-promiscuity

Ipatenco, S. (n.d.). Why Are Low Income Teens More Likely To Become Pregnant? Retrieved November 16, 2014, from http://everydaylife.globalpost.com/low-income-teens-likely-become-pregnant-12207.html

Kempner, M. (2013, April 29). Poverty Causes Teen Parenting, Not The Other Way Around. Retrieved November 16, 2014, from http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2013/04/29/poverty-causes-teen-parenting-not-the-other-way-around/

Rich vs. Poor: What Makes Them So Different? by Anonymous

         When I first started writing this blog, my topic was going to be the carbon footprint of the rich vs the poor.  As I started to do my research I was noticing a lot of different trends and general personality differences between the rich and poor.  It started to make me think that I should really reflect on how wealth or status affects your thinking and mindset, which in turn affects your whole life. 

            Now I know everyone is different, not everyone falls under the same stereotypes and categories but there are very common trends for each.  I am going to talk about just a few of the major differences between them.  Not only are their differences in their everyday actions, but also their mindsets.

Mindset of the Rich and Poor

            One of the biggest differences of rich and poor is how they perceive their life.  Rich people tend to think that they create the life they live while poor people tend to believe that life happens to them.  These two attitudes have a huge impact on how day to day life will happen.  By thinking you are in control of your life, you can make positive changes to get to where you wish to be.  When you think that you are powerless and no matter what you do, your situation won’t change then there is no use to even try.  It is easy to get consumed with the negative thoughts that life will not get better instead of focusing that energy on changing your life. Just like the expression, the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer; I can see that to be true just with the mindset difference between the two classes.

            The rich believe they are in control of their lives and they tend to dream big and focus on opportunities, while the poor on the other hand do not.  This goes back to the negative mindset.   The poor tend to undervalue themselves.  They get comfortable with their life and accept the cards they were dealt, even though the dream to be rich is there.  The poor are focused on all the obstacles in their way of possible opportunities.  The rich however, are never satisfied; they crave more and strive to reach their full potential because they are in control of their destiny.  They know that in order to be successful, they must take chances and jump at different opportunities. 

            Another big difference between rich and poor is who they associate with.  Rich people tend to associate with likeminded people, who are also successful and positive in their life.  But same goes for poor people, they tend to associate with other unsuccessful people who view the world in the same negative light.  Even though most people tend to befriend or associate with people who are similar to them, by never knowing different kinds of people you will never get different incite. 

            Not only do poor and rich rarely intermingle, but their views of each other are very different.  Poor people have a tendency to resent rich and successful people while the rich admire other rich and successful people.  The poor feel bitter about their life and are jealous that these people don’t have to struggle like them.  In contrast, the rich admire other rich and successful people.  I feel like instead of using that energy to resent these successful people there is much to be learned from them.  By having a positive mindset, rich people have probably already discovered that there is much to be learned from other rich people.

Daily life of Rich vs. Poor

            I read a five year study on the daily differences between the rich and the poor done by Tom Corely, who is a financial planner and the author of Rich Habits and the results were very interesting to me.  He studied how they live, work, sleep, eat, exercise, etc.  Before researching this topic I didn’t realize how different the rich and the poor really are besides just the number in their bank accounts.  But besides their mindset differences, their daily activities vary immensely as well.

            The things we do on a daily basis affect our mood and health.  In the study, Corely found that 76% of wealthy people exercise aerobically four days a week and only 23% of the poor do this.  Myself being a phycology major and a health minor, I know how important physical exercise is to not only your body and health but your mind as well.  Exercise is not only good for strengthening your heart, losing weight, but also for any depression/ anxiety and negative feelings.  I feel like this is part of the reason why wealthy people are more positive than poor people.  Another difference is what they do in their free time day to day.  The study showed 88% of wealthy people read 30 minutes or more each day for education or career reasons vs 2% of the poor.  The study also showed that 6% of wealthy watch reality TV vs. 78% for the poor.  The difference in activities is huge. 

The differences in their daily life could be affecting their mindset or their mindset could be affecting their daily life.  But either way, maybe the poor or middle class should adopt some of the daily activities and thoughts of the rich; they appear to be doing something right.  Every single person is in control of their life and destiny.  Some just don’t believe that or don’t want to change their current situation because they have grown too comfortable.  But dreams don’t always have to be dreams; they can become reality with changes to daily life and thinking.

References

http://www.themillionairesecrets.net/7-main-differences-between-rich-and-poor-people/

http://www.codeofliving.com/articles/8-ways-rich-differ-poor

http://www.budgetsaresexy.com/2010/11/wealthy-people-vs-poor-people/

http://www.efficientlifeskills.com/20-shocking-differnces-in-daily-habits-of-the-rich-vs-poor/