Everyone feels stressed, upset, or angry at point, right?! But everyone deals with their emotions differently. For me, I deal with my emotions with music. Am I alone with this one? My guess is probably not. Have you ever been down, then turned on your favorite song, and magically everything is better somehow? Well, there’s a reason behind that sudden change of emotion. According to Mrs. Emily Sohn of Discovery News, listening to music causes the release of dopamine. which is the chemical in your brain that makes you feel good. There had to be some reason why music has been around for so long, people love to feel good and be happy!
But of course, some people enjoy music more than others. Maybe instead of jamming out to your favorite band, you pick up a book and read off the stress. It’s about what works for you. Basically whatever you enjoy doing, and whatever makes you feel good, releases the dopamine chemical in your brain.
I read a fascinating article on CNN.com called This is your brain on music, which listed a few health benefits that listening to music can offer. One mind-blowing study done in the journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences proved that patients undergoing surgery who listened to music before hand, had less anxiety than those who just took drugs and didn’t listen to music. That study to me is absolutely remarkable. In this CNN article it states that Daniel Levitin and his colleagues performed 400 studies on whether or not listening to music is a physiological benefit and the answer is yes.
Of course everyone has their “go to” songs or bands they turn on when they need it most. Mine is a band called moe. Moe. has brought me from tears to laughter in the matter of seconds. I’m more passionate about them than I am about anything else really, which is shocking sometimes. I’ve been touring with this band for the past 4 years now, and I’m having the time of my life. I’ve come to know all of moe. on a more personal level within this last year and it’s truly surreal, they’re absolutely brilliant. If anyone else enjoys moe., lets be friends. We will have a lot to talk about, I can talk moe. for days!
So if you ever wondered “Does music really make me happier”, the answer is YES!
Now go play some tunes and release those happy chemicals! 😀