The power of music

Music has the power to influence our emotions, sleep and more. Freddie Moross, chief executive of functional wellness music company Myndstream, tells Kezia Parkins how we can better harness this in spas

What do we know about how music impacts the mind?

“There is a lot of research into this as well as a huge amount of lived experience. Music can make you feel a range of emotions, improve memory, help with sleep and help regulate mood. It can also make you feel more connected to others and the world around you. There are also hormonal and physiological effects that music can have on biological responses – alot of this literature is around Alzheimer’s or dementia patients within care homes.

“Particularly, music from your teens often has a significantly more heightened impact and effect on mood regulation than music you’ll experience in your 40s or 50s. In a lot of the research done with dementia patients in care homes, there are patients who seem almost locked in, unable to communicate at all, then when played music they would have listened to in younger years, they just unlock and they’re able to sing. This is the power of music.

“There’s also been a lot of research into music and neurodiversity, as well as blind communities. Unfortunately, unlike for other wellness practices, there is not yet a framework to test certain compositions and frequencies to optimise outcomes in different demographics. This is something we’re working on with research partners.”

How can music be harnessed in a spa or salon setting?

“Scent has this incredible capability to unlock experiential memories. Often, you find a scent sort of tags to a location and experience and can evoke and rush back emotions that were felt at that moment.

“Sound functions in a very similar way. In combination with other senses like scent you can use music to complement a massage, for example. The Global Wellness Institute [GWI] released an exciting report where multi-sensory experiences came out as one of the top wellness trends of 2023.

“You don’t want anything that is detracting but something unique that adds value and provides a memorable experience. If you think about it strategically, you can use it to enhance your brand, use memory triggers to bring guests back and even make revenue by using music prescriptively.”

How is Myndstream aiming to disrupt the wellness space?

“We want to deliver an element of professionalism to music in the health and wellness space adjacent to that in hospitality. Our priority is to create highimpact mood music within B2B spaces from spas to schools to hospitals – anywhere where there is a health and wellness need.

“In this field, music is a tool to elicit health and wellness outcomes so it has to be treated with a level of obligation, responsibility and respect to maximise the value it can create to the overall physiological or hormonal reaction.”

Tell us about your work with the Global Wellness Institute

“This year, I became an advisory board member, which came off the back of a speaking slot I was given at the Global Wellness Summit in 2021.

“There, I spoke on the value of using music for mental health and how Millennials and Gen Z are harnessing it. We brought a quartet on to play. It was really emotional and we got a standing ovation.

“My goal as board member is to become a thought leader in this space and show how audio can be the best partner possible to the wellness industry.”