The holidays may be over but I’m still humming those Christmas carols and other well known favorites that are ever pervasive at this time of year.
I’ve grown up with this music and each time I hear a familiar song, the nostalgia sets in and I’m transported.
According to a recent article in Yahoo Health, this is a fairly common reaction that may have beneficial effects – some much more far reaching than the momentary pleasures of long ago memories.
The article notes that we may wake up to a song on our alarm clock, stream music while we crunch numbers at work, blast power workout playlists at the gym, and attend music festivals on the weekend.
Do we ever suppose that what we’re listening to can actually affect how we act, feel, and think?
“The effect of music on the brain or body depends in part on its genre,” Frank A. Russo, PhD, associate professor of psychology at Ryerson University who is quoted in the article.
But apparently it also depends on whether or not we like the song. “Someone who is a ‘metalhead’ will be able to hear all sorts of emotions in music that others would generally hear as being aggressive,” he says.
Regardless of our taste in music, the article describes some things that happen in our brain and body every time we turn it on.
Our mood improves. Listening to “Happy” by Pharrell Williams can actually cheer us up. Research published in the Journal of Positive Psychology shows that listening to upbeat music improves mood, with one catch — it only works if we have the desire to be happy.
Test subjects who listened to the upbeat music without feeling an urge to be happy did not see their moods change.
“Listening to positive music may be an effective way to improve happiness, particularly when it is combined with an intention to become happier,” the study says.
A separate study also showed that the “feel-good” neurochemical called dopamine is released when we listen to music.
We work better. A 1993 study on “the Mozart effect” showed that listening to Mozart could improve standardized test scores. However, it’s not just classical music that has this effect.
A study published in the journal Intelligence shows that people exposed to music performed better at spatial tasks than those not listening to music, but this was not dependent on the musical genre.
One of the researchers in the Mozart effect study, Frances Rauscher, explained the implications: “The key to it is that you have to enjoy the music. If you hate Mozart, you’re not going to find a Mozart effect. If you love Pearl Jam, you’re going to find a Pearl Jam effect.”
We recall certain memories. Yep, that’s what I was describing above. The article asks if we ever listen to a song and get vivid flashbacks? “Music can definitely support the recall and even formation of memories,” Russo says.
“Enjoyable music may lead to dopamine release in the mesolimbic [reward] pathway, which may in turn support the formation of associations and, ultimately, memories.”
A study published in the journal Neuropsychologia shows playing music helps improve working memory as well. “Behaviorally, musicians outperformed nonmusicians on standardized subtests of visual, phonological, and executive memory,” according to the study.
Our skin crawls — in a good way. When a song goes in a direction we just didn’t expect (with a key change or diversion in melody, for example), we may experience physical sensations on our skin. Wesleyan psychologist Psyche Loui calls them “skin orgasms,” Science of Us reports.
We can exercise harder and longer. Many people listen to music when they run? Those that do know how effective it is at pushing us through that final mile.
“Music has been shown to help us work harder and longer by increasing physical capacity and arousal and improving performance,” Jeanette Bicknell, PhD, tells Yahoo Health.
Bicknell points to a study in the International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology that found that carefully selected music, like a workout playlist, can have performance-enhancing benefits during high-intensity exercise. Experts believe that music with a tempo of 180 beats per minute is best for running.
We experience changes in blood pressure. Depending on the music we listen to, our blood pressure can rise or fall when we jam out.
Research presented at the British Cardiovascular Society showed that listening to music from Beethoven, Puccini, and Verdi was associated with a decrease in blood pressure and a lower heart rate — regardless of whether the person actually preferred that kind of music.
Meanwhile, rock and pop either didn’t have an effect on blood pressure or seemed to increase it. Similarly, a small study published in the journal Heart showed that listening to fast music was associated with increased blood pressure, while listening to slower music was associated with — you guessed it — decreased blood pressure.
Whatever our individual tastes in music, it seems like listing to something may literally be better than nothing – no music at all. And those “skin orgasms” – that’s something that might perk us up!
Courtesy Melissa Bykofsky, Yahoo Health
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