Managing Stress with Heavy Metal and Other Aggressive Art Forms

Managing Stress with Heavy Metal and Other Aggressive Art Forms


Feelings of stress and personal tension are nothing out of the ordinary. Anyone who cares about their actions in the world will undoubtedly feel the pressures of responsibility with everything they do. Sometimes, pressures can build up, and if over time they are allowed to become stagnant, and suppressed, we can sometimes feel overwhelmed by them and go on to have negative behaviour patterns.


This phenomena is not unique to one group of people, or one type of person, but we all have the ability to become over stressed which results in finding our daily activities too much to handle. The ways of coping with these are many, but we tend to turn to quick fixes in most cases. Drugs and alcohol seem to be a very popular choice, and within reason and the law, there's no real issue.


Sometimes the narcotic release is not enough, or unwanted. Many of us refuse to intoxicate ourselves and that's a great thing. Although we have great biology that is designed to break down toxins in natural and expected ways, they do take their toll on our physiology all the same. The liver is really efficient in the act of breaking down all those unwanted nasties, but with over work, like us, it can become stressed, and eventually let us down. The same can be said for any of our organs.


So, how else can we manage stress? You may have guessed from the title that I intend to talk about Heavy Metal Music. Angry music provides an empathetic bridge from one mind to another, and this provides a channel for tension to flow. Once our tensions are conscious, and we are releasing endorphins in the process of manifesting them in some kind of output, be it the enjoyment of music, the dancing to, the doing housework to the rhythm of, or even the taking part in the playing of music can be exactly what the body needs.


But what else is there? Music gets aggressive in many genres, I like metal so it's what I call upon in this case. But there's a lot of music which taps into that angry part of us, rap music does it really well, as it's often spoken word which makes the projection a lot more versatile for emotional direction. Metal singers just growl and shout.


Painting can get very aggressive, many abstract works and modern works of art are created in expressive ways rather than technically controlled ones. The artists of today are much more likely to have a temper fit at their canvass and involve paint somehow than delicately plot the exact lines of the object. Of course there are plenty of traditional artists out there too.


So if getting drunk, or getting into fights isn't really what tickles your fancy, then you can always dig out one of those albums and get your aggro on, or if you want, buy some paint and some large sheets, and do the dirty on them in the name of stress management.  

Enjoy this heavy metal playlist, created on the Alternative Fruit YouTube channel.