It’s the weekend and you are kicking back after a stressful week of work, you’ve got a glass of red wine and you are sitting in your favorite seat relaxing, in the background you are playing your favorite tunes quietly and for once you can take a deep breath and finally able to feel good about yourself. There is no doubt that listening to your favorite music can instantly put you in a good mood, however now scientists are now discovering that music can do more than just lift your spirits, music also has a variety of health benefits as well.
What happens when we listen to our favorite tunes? If your playlist strikes the right chords, your body can go on physiological joyride – heart rate will increase, pupils will dilate and your brain will be filled with dopamine.
Professor Levitin, a specialist in Neuroscience at McGill University, and Professor Schellenberg from the University of Toronto, explained that within neuroscience they are able to identify two primary modes of brain operation. Either you are paying attention to something very closely and you are very deeply engaged in a task, or you are in “mind-wandering mode” (day-dreaming), as Levitin put it, “It’s a flood of different thoughts that feel unconnected and loose.”
Both Schellenberg and Levitin agree that music will have different effects on your brain and your behavior depend on how it personally makes you feel. For example if you want to be alert and focused then try an upbeat song that will put you in a good mood or if you want to step away from a problem and relax then play anything you like – don’t dismiss those sad songs you only listen to when moping around.
There has been research where neuroscientists have looked at the brain scans of volunteers as they listen to pieces of instrumental music that they found pleasurable and another group of volunteers that were played music they did not find pleasurable. The brain was able to release more dopamine when listen to pleasurable music. However this study had very stringent selection criteria and was very small, only using young healthy volunteers, therefore the results might not be representative of the general public as a whole.
So next time you are having some ‘me’ time and listening to your favorite tune, try and remember that your brain is releasing feel-good dopamine making you ready for another week of challenges.
(source)
