What’s the 1st thing you probably do while you are on a road trip with your pals, or at a gym, in a window seat of a train, car, or a bus, or when you are bored? Your hands reach to plug in the earphones or the speaker to play music. Think of your favorite song. Maybe you can sing a verse. How do you feel now? Good enough, right? Music can evoke something in all of us. The language of music is truly universal.
Music is a big part of our life. We listen to music intentionally or unintentionally. It helps us concentrate, relax, or get pumped for a workout. If music makes you happy, well, it’s because it is affecting your brain chemistry. And music is said to be the food for our soul.
So why do we find music so enjoyable? Any guesses?
Dopamine is released during moment of enjoyment while listening to music and it is what gives us the chills. It’s the same chemical reaction released when you fall in love. And that’s why some music tempts us to fall in love.
Listening to music is amazing. And your brain loves it. Music distracts your brain from your body’s fatigue. It has both psychological and physiological impacts in our body. We generally don’t realize how a simple song can affect our brain and body. Music can change our mood instantly. It hits our soul-deep, be it any genre.
Have you ever wondered how music affects your brain? Imagine you are a little low today, so which genre will you listen to? You probably would crank up the saddest song you can think of. If not, you belong to that 30% of rare species who listens to any other genres other than the sad songs. 70% of people listen to sad songs when they feel low. Have you wondered why? It’s because sad music empathizes like a friend, someone who gets the feeling you are going through and who lends a shoulder to cry. And often we feel like that song was just written for you. Isn’t it? Music has a substantial effect on emotions and has the power to drive our emotions. The moment we tune our favorite music, it triggers pleasure centers in our brains. Music heals the mind-body and soul.
Music has the power to improve the sleep efficiency. Listening to relaxing music fine-tunes your body to get ready for that resting-state by slowing down your heart rate and breathing. When you listen to music before bed, your body psychologically and physically comes to a relaxed state that will cause you to sleep more quickly.
Listening to music without lyrics usually of a low beat can improve your concentration. By reducing the pressure in the brain, boosts our creativity too. So try listening to a soft-core when you want yourself to bring up with something creative. Music reduces stress and eases anxiety and there are many musical therapies to cope up with depression, dementia, anxiety, etc.
Music is the best cure when you are feeling blue. There is a song for every emotion and situation. At the end of the day, it can change your mood. So next time you feel blue, put on your favorite song and see what happens.
By – Pooja. S . Kumar
