Through every emotion, music is there for us. For those days when you need to get pumped up before going out to a party, we listen to some Beyoncé. For the days we are feeling rather nostalgic, we might listen to our favorite hits from the 90s and 2000s, like “I Want it That Way” by the Backstreet Boys or Justin Timberlake’s “Sexy Back.” For the days where we feel like sulking in our own tragedies, we always have “My Heart Will Go On” by Celine Dion and Katy Perry’s “Thinking of You” to listen to. We are guaranteed a song to appeal to whatever we are feeling for every feeling. Music tends to be the first thing that anyone resorts to when in need of emotional appeal of some sort. Music heals, supports, and is there for us.

But why? Why does music have the ability to help us in these aspects? As Anthony Storr says here, that, “the patterns of music make sense of our inner experience, giving both structure and coherence to our feelings and emotions.” Essentially, the magnificent machines we have in our heads (our brains) easily sort out random mixes of sounds and allow them appeal to our feelings. According to this article by Keith Black, MD, “music increases activity in the nucleus accumbens part of the brain.” The nucleus accumbens is based on two specific neurotransmitters, dopamine and serotonin. Of the two, dopamine has more relevance in the process of evoking emotion when listening to music. Dopamine is associated with pleasure and reward. Additionally, the most important part of the brain as far as housing emotions goes is the amygdala. The amygdala is activated by music. Besides the amygdala, another part of the brain that is heavily affected by the brain is the prefrontal cortex. The prefrontal cortex is responsible for abstract decision making. This means that music is involved in the most cognitive levels of thinking.

Music is known to enhance our mood. But not only does music appeal to our emotions, but music also has healing power. According to this study of the correlation between music and recovery, music played a big role in the healing process of the people involved in the experiment. In this study, eighteen individuals with traumatic brain injury were assigned either a rehabilitation with music therapy or a rehabilitation without music therapy. In conclusion, the results of the group of individuals with music therapy were much better than that of those without the music therapy. The staff of the research study even said that those with music therapy included in their rehabilitation were “more actively involved and cooperative in therapy than those in the control group. So it is clear that music had a positive impact on the healing process of those with some of the most serious brain injuries and strokes, so just imagine the impact it has on those of us with well-functioning brains. Now the argument with this particular study may be confounding variables. Who is to know that the food that the music therapy people were eating is better for the brain than the food than the food that the people in the control group are eating? Or maybe there is a resilience to brains of younger people than there are to those over the age of say thirty. What if the experimenters hadn’t thought this through? I suppose this is why science is such an unsure topic. However, at the level that this experiment was tested, it is likely that the experimenters eliminated as many third variables as possible.

To prove how much music is affecting the brain, here is a comparison picture of the brain at rest and the brain while listening to music. 

(Photo found: here)

As you can see based on the picture, the brain is much more active when music is present. It appears as if nearly every part of the brain is active when reacting to music. The hippocampus is in the central-rear section of the brain. The hippocampus is where the amygdala is located and we know that the amygdala houses emotions. Clearly the central-rear region of the brain is lit in the presence of music. This proves that music has a heavy affect on our emotions. 

Here is additional proof of music’s affect on our brain:

Note how he says that we didn’t need anyone to tell us what kind of music is happy and what kind is sad. Our brains were able to figure it out on our own. Additionally, not only is music able to appeal to our emotions, but to our movement too. Music is all around us in our daily lives.

So what does this mean? LISTEN TO MUSIC. Listen when you’re sad, listen when you’re happy, listen when you need a friend, listen when you’re bored, just listen as much as you can because you are guaranteed a positive outcome regardless. Music will appeal to whatever emotion you are feeling because music has a direct connection to your amygdala, which houses your emotions. Music will make you feel better because music has healing powers. Unlike many other things, music will ALWAYS be there for you, through good times and bad. Music is in fact the best medicine.