Mental Health | FTF Health Network

Updated on 11/05/202508/23/2025Health

The Health Benefits of Listening to Music Every Day

Music has been stitched into our daily lives long before playlists and wireless earbuds. Even nostalgia sneaks in when rap albums released in 2003 play songs that shaped a whole generation. Beyond taste, science keeps pointing to one fact: music is medicine for the mind and body.

Reducing Stress and Anxiety

Gentle rhythms act like anchors during chaos. A soft piano or mellow guitar line can signal the nervous system to calm down. Stress hormones dial back, heart rate steadies, and the body finds a brief pocket of relief. This is why hospitals and therapy centers often use background music in waiting rooms. It makes the air less heavy. On a personal level, daily listening forms a buffer against the constant pull of tension. Even ten minutes of calming tunes can act like a reset button after a day filled with notifications and noise. Over time, this practice teaches the brain to associate music with safety and relaxation, making it a reliable tool to reach for when life feels overwhelming.

Boosting Mood

Music shifts emotional states in a snap. A bright melody, catchy beat, or lyrics that resonate can replace gloom with lightness. That surge of energy you feel when a favorite track comes on? It’s dopamine at work, the same chemical tied to pleasure and reward. Adding music to your daily routine means building small bursts of joy into ordinary moments. A song played while cooking or cleaning transforms chores into something closer to dance rehearsals. Repetition builds familiarity, and familiarity builds comfort. Over time, this repeated lift helps balance the darker dips in mood that often sneak up uninvited.

Improving Focus and Productivity

Background music, especially instrumental or ambient, helps carve out mental space. It reduces distractions by masking random noises, creating a smoother flow for deep work. Some people swear by classical; others lean on lo-fi beats or film soundtracks. What matters is consistency, not genre. Used wisely, daily listening can train the brain to recognize music as a “work mode” signal. Like Pavlov’s bell for concentration, the right playlist cues the mind to settle in and get moving. The practice doesn’t remove effort, but it can make long tasks feel less like uphill climbs and more like steady walks.

Supporting Heart and Physical Health

The link between sound and the heart is surprisingly direct. Slow-tempo music can lower blood pressure, while lively beats encourage movement and exercise. Dance therapies exist for this reason—they combine rhythm with motion to make activity more sustainable and enjoyable. Long-term listening also creates indirect benefits. Less stress means healthier cardiovascular patterns. Happier moods encourage better routines. Even sleep, often disrupted by tension, can be guided back into rhythm with carefully chosen tracks at bedtime. Music becomes both preventative and supportive care for the body.

Enhancing Sleep Quality

Struggling with sleep isn’t rare. Minds race, bodies refuse to settle. Yet studies show that calming music before bed helps the brain transition into rest. It slows breathing, lowers pulse, and distracts from intrusive thoughts. Daily use makes this effect stronger.

Music carries weight no prescription can replicate. It soothes stress, uplifts mood, sharpens focus, protects the heart, and lulls the restless into sleep. Daily listening doesn’t demand hours—just moments. Press play, let the rhythm do its quiet work, and remember: sometimes healing hums through the speakers before words can even explain it.…

Updated on 04/05/202211/04/2021Health

Tips on Finding a Therapist

Therapy can be a great way to explore the problems that are affecting your life. Whether you are struggling with depression, anxiety, addiction, or another mental health disorder, therapy can help you identify and address these issues.

However, it is essential to make sure that you find the right therapist for your needs. With so many therapists offering their services, it can be challenging to make the right choice. Here are some things to consider when looking for a therapist.

Consider the Credentials

Not every therapist will have all the required credentials. With that said, you should ensure that the therapist you are considering has the proper credentials to provide treatment for your mental health condition.

They must specialize in what you need help with, and if this therapist does not have all of these requirements, then seek out another. Although it may not seem like it, there are a lot of qualifications required for a person to offer psychological and psychiatric help.

Ask For a List of References

You should also highly consider asking for a list of references from the therapist you are considering. You can get reliable references from your friends and family who have used a therapist in the past.

If you do not know anyone that has gone to therapy personally, ask your primary care physician for some referrals. If there are any reviews or testimonials from clients available on their website, then take a look at them because this is an excellent way of getting more insight into the therapist and their practice.

If you come across reviews that mention things like ” the therapist didn’t pay attention to me” or “I felt ignored by the therapist,” it’s probably not a good idea to choose this person for your treatment. You need someone who will help you get to the root of your problems and work with you on finding an effective solution.

Interview the Therapist

You can also talk to the therapist’s current patients. Ask them what they like and dislike about their sessions, how a therapist has helped them, etc. If you don’t feel comfortable asking other clients questions directly, consider writing a short survey for past or present clients of the therapists in question with your list of prepared questions.

Talking to a specific therapist will also help you get a better sense of the therapist’s personality and approach. If possible, schedule an appointment with each potential therapist to see if there is good chemistry between the two of you before committing to regular sessions. You want to make sure that it feels like a safe space where both your needs are being met, and you feel comfortable disclosing sensitive information.

Seeking help from a therapist can be an excellent way to find solutions to the many problems you may have. It is also necessary for maintaining good mental health, which means that if you are looking for ways to improve your life in any of these areas, then seeking therapy should be one option on your list.…

Updated on 09/26/201902/17/2018Brain Health Health Lifestyle

Maintaining the Balance of Mind and Body

Our psychological state affects our health. A sick mind often leads to unhealthy behaviors, which will over time harm the body. But to say that we can control our health by our thought is an exaggeration and hasty conclusion.

Here, we are going to discuss the fact that mind and body are both connected and interrelated, and there should be a balance between both.

The insidious sugar

It might appear surprising to you because all of sudden we bring sugar into the discussion. As what has been reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, there is an association between high blood sugar levels with the increased risk of suffering from dementia.

What sugar does to our brain is that it triggers the pleasure sensor. This fact explains why people tend to eat chocolate or sweets when they feel sad.

Besides, our body is a glucose-based machine, and sugar is actually our fuel. But we did not evolve to eat sugar in its pure form.

In nature, we get sugar from grains and wheat, the primary staple food throughout human history. And with grains and wheat, we get other nutrition, like vitamins, minerals, and fibers. Also, the amount of sugar contained in the natural food sources is minimal.

In today’s world, we consume sugar in its purest form daily. We add it to doughnuts, coffee, and tea. Sugar is also used in food seasoning. Our world has made us accustomed to overly consuming sugar, which ruins the balance of our health.

By knowing this information, if you notice one of your family members or, perhaps, yourself has had an unhealthy tendency toward overeating, you must not let it continue. Behavioral disorders are best treated by psychologists. If you happen to live in Minneapolis, Minnesota therapy in St Paul, MN can give you the best help. They are specialists in treating addiction and body image problem.

Kicking up your metabolism stat

Besides diet, your physical activities can affect the health your mind, and vice versa. And it is important to know that it is vital for you to stay active.

If you are an office worker, who is tasked to spend time sitting in front of your computer more than eight hours a day, you should know that it can kill you. Firstly, too much of sitting can alter your backbone structure. Secondly, it will slow down your metabolism, so that all the fat cells are deposited around your waist. Thirdly, your low metabolism will affect your heart health.

You should change your lifestyle and do more exercises. If possible, take a break for every one hour of sitting, stretch your back, and try to stand up for at least three minutes. Do more cardio exercises during the weekend and find out how a healthy body results in a healthy mind.

Attending an unfinished business

If you have felt sick and weak, but the doctors have told you that you are not ill, then most likely, you have a psychological burden that is rooted from guilt. Again, you might need to see a shrink and get your emotion analyzed and profiled.

The placebo effect can affect a person’s health positively, and so does its opposite version. Stress and anxiety will lead to health troubles that can significantly reduce your life quality.…