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Music and Mental Wellbeing
- freya527
- Apr 1
- 4 min read
Updated: Apr 2
I think that many of you will agree with me when I say: I love listening to music. Whether we use it to hype ourselves up, comfort ourselves, relive memories, or simply switch off, music has a powerful ability to shape our emotions and moods.
But why do we love it so much?
It is a bit strange that we find music so pleasurable despite it having no survival value. So the question is why?
1. Music activates the brain’s rewards system
Music stimulates the brain’s same dopamine-based rewards system in a similar way to other basic pleasures like eating. Brain imaging studies show activity linked to reward, motivation, and emotion. This can begin to explain why we love music and why it is sometimes almost addictive.
2. Prediction + Surprise = Pleasure
Our brains are constantly trying to predict what will happen next, especially when we are listening to music. Enjoyment comes from a balance between our expectations (recognising patterns) and surprises (when our expectations are not met). Interestingly, when these expectations are met or cleverly broken, our brains release dopamine.
3. Strong emotional responses
Listening to music can evoke strong emotions, from joy to sadness, and even nostalgia. These emotions can trigger memories and personal connections to other experiences and unlike language, music can often communicate emotion in a non-verbal but direct way.
4. Interaction of multiple brain systems
Music engages multiple systems in the brain simultaneously. The auditory system (that processes sound), the prediction system (that anticipates patterns), and the reward system (that generates pleasure) are all interacting and working together.
5. Evolutionary mystery
Music has no clear survival instinct, unlike other pleasurable behaviors we experience, such as eating, drinking water, sleeping, self-grooming, socializing and more. There is no single reason why we love music so much and this mystery makes it all the more enjoyable.
So, if music has such a powerful effect on our brains and emotions, how can we use it to more intentionally support our wellbeing?
Boosting Emotional Wellbeing
Evidence has suggested that there are 5 key steps we can all take to improve our mental wellbeing, the 5 ways to wellbeing. We can use our love of music to support these steps:
Connect
Connecting with others can help us feel close to people and feel valued. These good relationships are very important for our mental wellbeing.
Connect by sharing your favourite song with someone you know and asking them what theirs is. You could even go further and discuss why each of you have picked that song.
Get active
Many people find that physical activity helps them maintain positive mental health, studies have shown that being more active can help you sleep better and experience happier moods. Getting active doesn’t have to mean running a marathon or signing up for a gym membership. There are many different ways you can do a bit more to be active.
Get active by playing a motivating, upbeat song to get moving, dancing, running, walking or whatever suits you best.
Take notice
Reminding ourselves to take notice or pay attention can help us to be aware of the way we are feeling. It can help us to find out how different things can trigger different emotions. This is sometimes called ‘mindfulness’. Some studies show that this can positively change the way you feel and how you might approach challenges.
Take notice of the music you are listening to. Think about how the melody or lyrics you can hear makes you feel. You could even close your eyes to fully immerse yourself in the music.
Learn
We end up learning new things every day, without even realising. Learning new things can help to build a sense of purpose, improve self-confidence, and feel more productive.
Learn about a new artist or why they wrote a certain song. You could go a step further and share this knowledge with someone you know.
Give
Research has suggested that acts of giving and kindness can create happiness for yourself. Giving does not only mean donating money, we can give in many other ways. For example, we can offer our help to others, make a cup of tea for a colleague, and by simply be kind to others.
Give someone else an upbeat or motivating playlist that you have made when they are feeling down, if you think that might be something they enjoy.
Now it’s your turn, press play and enjoy…
I’ve created a playlist featuring favourite songs from WHM staff, so be sure to give it a listen using the link below.
And don’t forget to leave your favourite song in the comments!
Resources:
Find out more about the 5 ways to wellbeing:
Find out more about why humans enjoy music:
“Why Do We Love Music?” (Zatorre, 2018) https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6353111/#
“Seeking pleasure: food, sex & music” (Jonathan Wood, 2009) https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/science-blog/seeking-pleasure-food-sex-music#:~:text='Pleasure%20is%20fundamental%20to%20us,sex%2C'%20says%20Professor%20Kringelbach.
“Finding pleasure in repetitive behaviors” (Ying Zhang, Dheeraj S. Roy, Guoping Feng, 2022)https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0896627322008613#:~:text=Main%20text,the%20context%20of%20repetitive%20behaviors.
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