Music is a powerful thing, it can lift your mood or make you feel sad, evoke memories and feelings and bring relief from pain. It can elicit the same brain response that mood-enhancing drugs like cocaine can. But how, why? Why does music affect our emotions?
A natural antidepressant
Scientists have long discovered that listening to music increases blood flow to the parts of the brain that generate emotions. It can kick-start the production of dopamine – the chemical that makes you feel good.
Music, in particular classical pieces, can also relieve stress by reducing the levels of cortisol in your body, as well as lowering the heart rate and blood pressure.
Equally, music has the power to do exactly the opposite – to increase stress. Film and tv scores draw on this in a big way to encourage the audience to feel a certain emotion. Remember that famously stressful Jaws theme? Or the eerie tones when a character is entering a creepy wood or an abandoned house? You can’t help but feel stressed or terrified.
Music amplifies the movie experience
Another well-known fact is that listening to music can help brain cells process information. Learning simple songs help us remember facts – this is known as a mnemonic device. Such information can often stick in your brain for years – certain songs you never forget, do you? In fact, it is often the case that patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, or other conditions where communication is a struggle will still happily sing along to songs from their past.
So why are we as humans so connected to music? Why does it evoke feelings at such a primal level, in the same way as things like food and love do, when apparently music has nothing to do with our survival?
Some music theorists suggest that our reaction to music stems from what our brains expect to get, and whether or not we get it. They say that music sets up sonic patterns and beats that make our brains jump ahead and unconsciously predict what will come next. If we are right, our brain surges with dopamine. If we are wrong, our brain learns from it. So the more we listen to a song, the better our predictions become, making familiar pieces of music more rewarding to us.
This theory suggests that your appreciation of music is probably very much related to what music you have been exposed to – which does explain why different cultures enjoy different styles of musical sounds.
Why does music affect our emotions?
Well, the truth is, nobody really knows for sure. But what we do know is that music has been a part of human society for at least 35,000 years – a fact confirmed after the discovery of an ancient flute carved from mammoth ivory.
And when you think of how music brings people together, cheers people up, relieves pain and suffering and can even allow the release of pain and suffering, then you realise that actually it is just as essential to our survival as eating and love are. So perhaps that is why we respond to music on a primal level.
Music has been an integral part of society since society began
Without music, society would be a very different place. It has undoubtedly enhanced the whole of humanity, and even those who are hearing impaired are still able to enjoy music visually and through vibrations.
I’d go as far to say it’s as important to our mental health as eating is to our physical.
So embrace the emotion, let yourself be swept away at the cinema, turn up the kitchen disco and wallow in melancholy if you need.
As the great Louis Armstong said: ‘Music is life itself.’
Ruth x
(Ps. If you are interested in knowing more about the science side of this, there is a great article here.)
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