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The effects music has on the brain: 5 ways it improves mental health
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Music is an art form that has an emotional effect. Listening to your favourite song can instantly lift your mood. Upbeat music at the gym makes you feel energised. A soothing melody at bedtime can drift you to blissful sleep. Extensive research has been conducted on music and brain effects it produces. The use of music for mental health improvement has shown exciting results.
How does music affect your mental health?
Listening to good music is a pleasurable experience that supports your well-being. But how does music affect the brain? The brain anticipates music as a rewarding activity. Dopamine, your reward and pleasure brain chemical is released when you listen to music. Brain scans showed an increase in blood flow in the dopamine-producing areas when listening to pleasurable music[1 Trusted Source 2021 - Brain, Behavior, & Immunity - Health Systematic and meta-analysis Music, mental health, and immunity ] . Dopamine enhances motivation and encourages you to continue doing the pleasant activity. This also explains why you can listen to music for hours. Let’s take a look at the effects music has on the brain and how music and mental health are connected.
How can music affect stress?
Another way music helps mental health is by de-stressing you. A review of 56 studies found that music and stress relief are linked after results showed that listening to music lowers the stress response[2 Trusted Source 2014 - Brain, Behavior, & Immunity Systematic and meta-analysis The psychoneuroimmunological effects of music: a systematic review and a new model ] , making it an effective stress management technique. If you are stressed, listening to your favourite music for 10 minutes can lower your stress hormone, cortisol[3 Trusted Source 2021 - Brain Sciences Human study Psychological and Physiological Signatures of Music Listening in Different Listening Environments—An Exploratory Study ] . Music has also been shown to improve immune response, which also contributes to adapting to stressful situations effectively[1 Trusted Source 2021 - Brain, Behavior, & Immunity - Health Systematic and meta-analysis Music, mental health, and immunity ] . University students who listened to music after performing a stressful task recovered from stress quickly[4 Trusted Source 2021 - Frontiers in Psychology Systematic and meta-analysis How Do Music Activities Affect Health and Well-Being? A Scoping Review of Studies Examining Psychosocial Mechanisms ] . Psychologically, music improves your mental state by having a positive effect on the emotional centre of the brain[5 Trusted Source 2020 - Health Psychology Review Systematic and meta-analysis Effects of music interventions on stress-related outcomes: a systematic review and two meta-analyses ] . Meditative and instrumental music has been shown to reduce stress[5 Trusted Source 2020 - Health Psychology Review Systematic and meta-analysis Effects of music interventions on stress-related outcomes: a systematic review and two meta-analyses ] .
Does music help depression?
Music therapy is the clinical use of music as an additional therapy for different disorders. What are the 4 types of music therapy? They’re called receptive, re-creational, compositional, and improvisational, and each of them focuses on a different way how you can connect with music[6]. Receptive music therapy listening to the music and potentially interpreting it by drawing or dancing. In a re-creational approach, you recreate the music played either by singing along or playing the melody. You can also work on composing new music which also ties in with the last type which involves spontaneous song creation. Now that you know more about music therapy, let’s take a look at what science says about it. A review of 55 studies found that music therapy for at least 1-4 weeks decreased depressive scores[7 Trusted Source 2020 - PloS one Human study Effects of music therapy on depression: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials ] . The recommendation is to listen to 1 hour of music & depression symptoms will begin to improve when you follow the instructions from a music therapist twice a week. The use of classical and jazz music decreased depressive scores by almost 50%[8 Trusted Source 2017 - Frontiers in Psychology Systematic and meta-analysis Reviewing the Effectiveness of Music Interventions in Treating Depression ] . Many possible factors contribute to the anti-depressant effects of music like improved mood, increased motivation, and the presence of a positive distraction. Brain scans have shown that music activates the emotion and pleasure areas of the brain[9 Trusted Source 2017 - Frontiers in Neuroscience Systematic and meta-analysis Music-Evoked Emotions-Current Studies ] .
What is the most uplifting type of music?
The uplifting music that you listen to can motivate you to find the deeper meaning in life, strengthen social connections and even improve your workout. When people listened to meaningful music (such as instrumental music) for 2 hours per day, they were more motivated to seek the important values of life. Those who listened to pleasurable music (such as pop and rock music) were more motivated to make others laugh and make new friends[10 Trusted Source 2021 - Mass Communication and Society Human study How Music Awakens the Heart: An Experimental Study on Music, Emotions, and Connectedness ] . Music can motivate you to have a better workout, which also improves mental health. Listening to music diverts focus from the challenges of exercise to the music. This can increase motivation by improving mood, and efficiency and reducing the perception of fatigue and pain[11 Trusted Source 2021 - Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology Research evaluation The Influence of Music Preference on Exercise Responses and Performance: A Review ] .
How does music help wellbeing?
Being a part of group musical activities promotes social bonding and lowers loneliness which improves mental wellbeing. Those who sang in a choir for a month reported better moods and social connectedness[12 Trusted Source 2015 - Royal Society Open Science Human study The ice-breaker effect: singing mediates fast social bonding ] . A review of 9 studies reported that being part of a band or music group improved self-esteem and social support[4 Trusted Source 2021 - Frontiers in Psychology Systematic and meta-analysis How Do Music Activities Affect Health and Well-Being? A Scoping Review of Studies Examining Psychosocial Mechanisms ] . Being part of a songwriting group helped to alleviate barriers to building rapport and build strong friendships[4 Trusted Source 2021 - Frontiers in Psychology Systematic and meta-analysis How Do Music Activities Affect Health and Well-Being? A Scoping Review of Studies Examining Psychosocial Mechanisms ] . Whatever genres bring you joy, listen to music & well-being will improve.
Remember that you’re always just one press play away from feeling better.
References
[1] Rebecchini L. (2021). Music, mental health, and immunity. Brain, behavior, & immunity - health, 18, 100374. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666354621001770?via%3Dihub
[2] Fancourt, D. et al. (2014). The psychoneuroimmunological effects of music: a systematic review and a new model. Brain, behavior, and immunity, 36, 15–26. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0889159113005138?via%3Dihub
[3] Tervaniemi, M. et al. (2021). Psychological and Physiological Signatures of Music Listening in Different Listening Environments—An Exploratory Study. Brain Sciences, 11(5), 593. MDPI AG. https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/11/5/593
[4] Dingle, G. A. et al. (2021). How Do Music Activities Affect Health and Well-Being? A Scoping Review of Studies Examining Psychosocial Mechanisms. Frontiers in psychology, 12, 713818. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.713818/full
[5] de Witte, M. et al. (2020). Effects of music interventions on stress-related outcomes: a systematic review and two meta-analyses. Health psychology review, 14(2), 294–324. https://research.ou.nl/en/publications/effects-of-music-interventions-on-stress-related-outcomes-a-syste
[6] Murphy, K. (2016). Music Therapy in Addictions Treatment. In B. L. Wheeler (Ed.), Music Therapy Handbook, pp. 354-366. Guilford Press.
[7] Tang, Q. et al. (2020). Effects of music therapy on depression: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. PloS one, 15(11), e0240862. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0240862
[8] Leubner, D. et al. (2017). Reviewing the Effectiveness of Music Interventions in Treating Depression. Frontiers in psychology, 8, 1109. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01109/full
[9] Schaefer H. E. (2017). Music-Evoked Emotions-Current Studies. Frontiers in neuroscience, 11, 600. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnins.2017.00600/full
[10] de Leeuw, R.N.H. et al. (2021). How Music Awakens the Heart: An Experimental Study on Music, Emotions, and Connectedness. Mass Communication and Society, pp.1–23. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15205436.2021.1956542
[11] Ballmann C. G. (2021). The Influence of Music Preference on Exercise Responses and Performance: A Review. Journal of functional morphology and kinesiology, 6(2), 33. https://www.mdpi.com/2411-5142/6/2/33
[12] Pearce, E. et al. (2015). The ice-breaker effect: singing mediates fast social bonding. Royal Society open science, 2(10), 150221. https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.150221
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