Stress & Coping, S4 Presentation Write out

Hello everyone,

My name is Ettore Crocetti Marzotto and in light of this advocacy presentation I thought that I would bring you some advice from the field of Psychology.

As you may know, I am currently a psychology major here at USF and with this semester being nearly over, I can pretty much say that i have completed a full class of psychology. During this term something that we discussed in the lectures was stress, we also talked about some of the coping mechanisms that are available and how those could penitentially improve our well being.

Stress is often very personal and hard to define, so for the purpose of this presentation i will give a definition that i found which I think captures what stress is pretty well.

Here it is,

According to Medical News Today, we generally use the word “stress” when we feel that everything seems to have become too much – we are overloaded and wonder whether we really can cope with the pressures placed upon us.

Without a doubt stress has been affecting all of mankind throughout history. Examples of stress can be seen from past political leaders such as former president of the united states, Theodore Roosevelt, to more recent public figure like actor Jack Nicholson and of course stress can also be seen in our community from students over and over again.

In 2008, the Associated Press and mtvU conducted a survey on college student stress at many different colleges throughout the United States. The survey found that four out of ten college students reported that they feel stressed often. One out of five said that they feel stressed most of the time. One out of four students reported experiencing stress daily and finally one in ten reported thoughts of suicide.

Now you might be wondering; why am i telling you this?

These numbers ARE scary but, i am here today with a solution. That is to use Music, as a stress coping mechanism.

All of us here can probably relate to some extent with music being a positive factor of our lives. Some people need to listen to it every day while others can go without it for months, regardless of that, the important thing is that no matter what, music will always be widely and easily accessed. Making music therapy extremely available to everyone.

But what is music therapy?

According to the music therapy association

Music Therapy is the clinical and evidence-based use of music interventions to accomplish individualized goals within a therapeutic relationship.

So, music is now in collaboration with the field of psychology and researchers have found many different benefits for it such as using it to Promote Wellness, Alleviate Pain, Express Feelings, Enhance Memory, Improve Communication, Promote Physical Rehabilitation and of course, also to alleviate stress.

In a study, PhD, Mona Lisa Chanda, found that music improves the body’s immune system function as well as reducing stress levels. Moreover Researchers at Stanford University have said that “listening to music seems to be able to change brain functioning to the same extent as medication.”

The university of nevada states that faster music can make you feel more alert and concentrate better. Upbeat music can make you feel more optimistic and positive about life. And that a slower tempo can quiet your mind and relax your muscles, making you feel soothed while releasing the stress of the day.

So whether you like Rock, Jazz, or Hip Hop it does’t matter, music is beneficial and as you heard, I am not the only one advocating for this. With all the successful research done into the benefits of music on coping with stress, it is clear that it makes for a useful tool.

So, My advice?

Keep calm and listen to music.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *