Does Music Affect Your Mood?
New research shows that even sad music can lift your mood, while other studies, suggest music can boost happiness and reduce anxiety.
From the drumbeats of our ancient ancestors to today’s unlimited streaming services, music is an integral part of the human experience.
Researchers have pondered the possible therapeutic and mood boosting benefit's of music for centuries.
Even sad music brings most listeners pleasure and comfort, according to recent research from Durham University in the United Kingdom and the University of Jyväskylä in Finland, published in PLOYS ONE Trusted Source.
Conversely, the study found that for some people, sad music can cause negative feelings of profound grief.
The research involved three surveys of more than 2,400 people in the United Kingdom and Finland, focusing on the emotions and memorable experiences associated with listening to sad songs.
The majority of experiences reported by participants were positive.
“The results help us to pinpoint the ways people regulate their mood with the help of music, as well as how music rehabilitation and music therapy might tap into these processes of comfort, relief, and enjoyment,” said lead author, Thomas Eidola, Ph.D., a professor of music cognition at Durham University, in a press release.
He also said the study may help find reasons for both listening to and avoiding sad music.
An earlier study, published in the Journal of Consumer Research, found that people tend to prefer sad music when they are experiencing a deep interpersonal loss, like the end of a relationship.
The authors of that study suggested that sad music provides a substitute for the lost relationship. They compared it to the preference most people have for an empathic friend — someone who truly understands what you’re going through.
Other research has focused on the joy upbeat music can bring.
A 2013 study in the Journal of Positive Psychology found that people who listened to upbeat music could improve their moods and boost their happiness in just two weeks.
In the study, participants were instructed to try to improve their mood, but they only succeeded when they listened to the upbeat music of Copland as opposed to the sadder tunes of Stravinsky.
And a happier mood brings benefit's beyond feeling good. In a press release, lead study author, Yuan Ferguson, noted that happiness has been linked to better physical health, higher income, and greater relationship satisfaction.
Music as therapy
This music research aligns with the larger arena of music therapy.
The American Music Therapy Association (AMT A) reports that music therapy programs can be designed to achieve goals such as managing stress, enhancing memory, and alleviating pain.
It might seem surprising that music can help people cope with physical pain, but research has shown a clear link.
A 2015 review in The Lancet Trusted Source found that people who listened to music before, during, or after surgery experienced less pain and anxiety, compared to patients who did not listen to music.
The music listeners didn’t even need as much pain medication.
To conduct the study, researchers looked at data from 73 different trials, involving more than 7,000 patients.
The people who experienced a slightly greater, but non-significant, reduction in pain, and needed the least pain medication, were the ones who got to pick their own music.
“Music is a non-invasive, safe, cheap intervention that should be available to everyone undergoing surgery,” lead study author Catherine Mads, Ph.D., of Brunei University in the United Kingdom, recommended in a press release.
When it comes to treating chronic conditions, music therapy can also play a powerful role.
A recent review in the World Journal of Psychiatry Trusted Source found that music therapy can be an effective treatment for mood disorders related to neurological conditions, including Parkinson’s disease, dementia, stroke, and multiple sclerosis.
After reviewing 25 trials, the researchers concluded that music is a valid therapy to potentially reduce depression and anxiety, as well as to improve mood, self-esteem, and quality of life.
They also noted that no negative side effects were reported in any of the trials, making music a low-risk treatment.
Barry Goldstein, a recording artist who has studied the vibrational effects of music for more than 25 years, says music has a profound impact on the brain.
In a column for Conscious Lifestyle magazine, Goldstein wrote that music can actually enhance brain functions.
He said music can evoke emotion, help regain memories, stimulate new neural connections, and active attention.
Boosting moods
while listening to music may bring greater health benefit's, creating it can be an effective therapy, too.
A unique orchestra for people with dementia helped improve their mood and boost their self-confidence, according to researchers at the Bournemouth University Dementia Institute (BU DI) in Dorset, U.K.
The orchestra is one of several BU DI research projects that aims to demonstrate how people with dementia can still learn new skills and have fun.
Eight people with dementia and seven caregivers participated in the project, along with students and professional musicians.
“Music touches everyone in some way, either by listening or playing,” said Althea Innes, Ph.D., head of BU DI, in a press release.
She said that the orchestra has been a life-enhancing project for everyone involved, and that the project challenges the negative public perceptions of people diagnosed with dementia.
“Working together to produce a collaborative output is a powerful way to bring out the best in people — not just in terms of their musical skills, but their communication skills, friendships, care, and support for one another,” she added.
Not into jazz or the classics? You may want to try a group percussion session instead. The same research review found that drum circles also had above-average benefit's for people dealing with depression.
Musical genre matters for depression
One important note: Studies, Trusted Source have found that nostalgic sad tunes can actually increase symptoms of depression, especially if you tend to ruminate or withdraw socially. Not surprising, perhaps, but important to know if you want to use music to counteract the blues.
Music’s effects on the body
It can help your heart health
Music can make you want to move — and the benefit's of dancing are well documented. Scientists also know that listening to music can alter Trusted Source your breath rate, your heart rate, and your blood pressure, depending on the music’s intensity and tempo.
It decreases fatigue
Anyone who has ever rolled down car windows and turned up the radio knows that music can be energizing. There’s solid science behind that lived experience.
In 2015, researchers Trusted Source at Shanghai University found that relaxing music helped reduce fatigue and maintain muscle endurance when people were engaged in a repetitive task.
Music therapy sessions also lessened fatigue in people receiving cancer treatments and raised the fatigue threshold for people engaged in demanding neuromuscular training, which leads us to the next big benefit.
It boosts exercise Performance
Exercise enthusiasts have long known that music enhances their physical performance,
A 2020 research review confirms that working out with music improves your mood, helps your body exercise more efficiently, and cuts down on your awareness of exertion. Working out with music also leads to longer work outs Trusted Source.
In clinical settings, athletes who listened to high-intensity, fast music during warm-ups were motivated Trusted Source to perform better competitively.
You don’t have to be a world-class competitor to benefit: Research Trusted Source shows that syncing your workout to music can allow you to reach peak Performance , using less oxygen than if you did the same workout without the beat. Music acts as a metronome in your body, researchers said.
The Benefit's of Listening to Music
In 2009, archaeologists excavating a cave in southern Germany uncovered a flute carved from a vulture’s wing bone. The delicate artifact is the oldest known musical instrument on earth — indicating that people have been making music for over 40,000 years.
Although we can’t be sure exactly when human beings began listening to music, scientists do know something about why we do. Listening to music benefit's us individually and collectively. Here’s what research tells us about the power of music to improve our physical, mental, and emotional health.
Music connects us
Researchers Trusted Source think one of the most important functions of music is to create a feeling of cohesion or social connectedness.
Evolutionary scientists say human beings may have developed a dependence on music as a communication tool because our ancestors descended from arboreal species — tree-dwellers who called to one another across the canopy.
Music remains a powerful way of uniting people:
national anthems connect crowds at sporting events protest songs stir a sense of shared purpose during marches hymns build group identity in houses of worship love songs help prospective partners bond during courtship lullabies enable parents and infants to develop secure attachments
How, then, does music benefit us as individuals?
Music’s effects on the mind It can lead to better learning
Doctors at Johns Hopkins recommend that you listen to music to stimulate your brain. Scientists know that listening to music engages your brain — they can see the active areas light up in MRI scans.
Researchers now know that just the promise of listening to music can make you want to learn more. In one 2019 study, people were more motivated to learn when they expected to listen to a song as their reward.
Listening has limits
A note of caution: You may want to withhold the earbuds for some students. Researchers Trusted Source who tested students with lower working memory capacity found that listening to music — especially songs with lyrics — sometimes had a negative effect on learning.
It can improve memory
Music also has a positive effect on your ability to memorize.
In one study of Trusted Source, researchers gave people tasks that required them to read and then recall short lists of words. Those who were listening to classical music outperformed those who worked in silence or with white noise.
The same study tracked how fast people could perform simple processing tasks — matching numbers to geometrical shapes — and a similar benefit showed up. Mozart helped people complete the task faster and more accurately.
Mayo Clinic points out that while music doesn’t reverse the memory loss experienced by people with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, music has been found to slow cognitive decline in Trusted Source, helping people with mild or moderate dementia remember episodes from their lives.
Music memory is one of the brain functions most resistant to dementia. That’s why some caregivers have had success using music to calm dementia patients and build trusting connections with them.
It can help treat mental illness
Music literally changes the brain. Neurological researchers have found that listening to music triggers the release of several neurochemicals that play a role in brain function and mental health:
dopamine, a chemical associated with pleasure and “reward” centers stress hormones like cortisol serotonin and other hormones related to immunity oxytocin, a chemical that fosters the ability to connect to others
Although more research needs to be done to understand precisely how music can be used therapeutically to treat mental illness, some studies, Trusted Source suggest that music therapy can improve the quality of life and social connectedness for people with schizophrenia.
Music’s effects on mood
A number of researchers Trusted Source have interviewed groups about why they listen to music. Study participants vary widely in terms of age, gender, and background, but they report strikingly similar reasons.
One of the most common uses of music? It helps people regulate their emotions Trusted Source, researchers found. It has the power to change moods and help people process their feelings.
It can help lower anxiety
There’s lots of evidence that listening to music can help calm you in situations where you might feel anxious.
Studies of Trusted Source have shown that people in rehab after a stroke are more relaxed once they’ve listened to music for an hour.
Similar studies of Trusted Source indicate that music blended with nature sounds help people feel less anxious. Even people facing critical illness, Trusted Source feel less anxiety after music therapy.
There’s conflicting evidence about whether listening to music has an effect on your body’s physiological stress response, however. One study of Trusted Source indicated that the body releases less cortisol, a stress hormone, when people listen to music. This same study referenced previous research stating that music had little measurable effect on cortisol levels.
One recent study of Trusted Source that measured several indicators of stress (not just cortisol) concluded that while listening to music before a stressful event doesn’t reduce anxiety, listening to relaxing music after a stressful event can help your nervous system recover faster.
It helps the symptoms of depression
A 2017 research review Trusted Source concluded that listening to music, particularly classical combined with jazz, had a positive effect on depression symptoms, especially when there were several listening sessions conducted by board certified music therapists.
It can help manage pain
Specially trained music therapists use music to help alleviate pain in inpatient and outpatient settings. A 2016 meta-analysis Trusted Source, of over 90 studies, reported that music helps people manage both acute and chronic pain better than medication alone.
Tum Amar ame tomr ...
Jibon shate.. ooo ke kor tok Bujhabo tum amr a....
You must be logged in to post a comment.