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Writer's pictureKaterina Panagi

How music can affect our mood?

Updated: Dec 29, 2021

The fact that music has an impact on humans is already discovered and proven. However, some people doubt it, although music is a great tool to control your emotions and mood. To do this, it is not at all necessary to have a special music taste or to understand the art of music. To get started, it is worth understanding how you can use music to control your mood and improve your emotional state.


Why can music affect our mood?


Our brain responds to each external stimulus instantly, and the sound of the music is one of them. Music stimulates the part of the brain that produces the dopamine hormone. This hormone affects emotional behaviour and mood. The influence of music is both behavioral and neural. This means that music not only affects the mood but also affects what we cannot control ourselves. That’s why, even in ancient times, music was the mouth of the rest of the arts. According to ancient researchers, it obeyed an objective law and existed regardless of a person. The ancient Greek scientist Pythagoras was the first to take a scientific approach towards music and its influence. Of course, music existed before, but he was the first who described in mathematical terms what notes and pleasant or unpleasant consonances for humans are.


Understanding how music affects mood is important for several reasons. This will allow you to change your view of what kind of music you listen to and understand how it affects you. If you are feeling anxious and annoyed, it may be because of the music you prefer. It may be time to start listening to calmer music that will lift your spirits and add energy. And on the contrary, if you feel you need some more brevity or creativity for getting started with a difficult task, the right and optimized music may add you some power to cope. There is a lot of research on music therapy and the studies are going on. Most researchers believe that music may help improve mental health, enhance mood and teach everyone to differentiate their emotions.


“Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent.”


Music may help you better deal with problems


Most likely, you have noticed this from your own experience – music gives strength to cope with problems and relieve the soul without harming your mental state. This phenomenon evoked the interest of the researcher and psychologist Stefan Koelsch who has revealed that sad music evokes a sense of empathy in a person.


That is, a person begins to empathize with the emotions of the lyrics, and at this time the human brain regulates our emotional background. This allows for getting rid of negative emotions and experiences, but without harm to the mental health of a person.


Music lets you relax


An increased level of cortisol is a problem for modern society. To put it simply, this is the hormone of stress, and it can be challenging to reduce it. However, the right music in the morning or at the end of the day can normalize the level of this hormone.


As a result of the experiment, it was found that music can relieve stress. The experiment made it possible to find out that music makes us more relaxed. However, not all types of music are suitable for this purpose. It is believed that classical music, for example, Chopin’s masterpieces have especially beneficial effects on reducing blood cortisol and overall relaxation of body and mind.


Music can create good feelings


Many researchers believe that classical music has a beneficial effect on both physical and spiritual well-being. However, this statement may sometimes be ambiguous. Not all music can have such an impact, since classical music may also be about heavier compositions that can cause sadness and even develop depression, for example, some of the compositions by Strauss and Wagner. Mozart’s music has no “contraindications”, and the work of this particular composer has repeatedly got in the spotlight of scientists and researchers. There are many studies that suggest that the work of this composer improves productivity, and some studies suggest that music can increase the level of intelligence. However, in general, listening to classical music allows you to experience feelings of elation, good mood, and relaxation from tension.


“Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination

and life to everything.”


“Life is for the living.

Death is for the dead.

Let life be like music.

And death a note unsaid.”


Langston Hughes, The Collected Poems








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