by Juliet Felice
Music is a universal language that speaks to people in more ways than one. Studies show music can cause people to feel nostalgic, affect people’s overall mood, and make people feel less alone. But how does this work?
According to the article titled “How Does Music Affect Your Brain?” from Ashford University, “One of the first things that happen when music enters our brains is the triggering of pleasure centers that releases dopamine, a neurotransmitter that makes you happy. This response is so quick, the brain can even anticipate the most pleasurable peaks in familiar music and prime itself with an early dopamine rush.”
In other words, music can affect your overall mood with the lyrics and the message behind them. Experiments prove that if one can relate to the lyrics in a song, it allows them a sense of release and thought processes that relate back to “there is someone out there for me, someone else understands my emotions.” This can, obviously, affect one’s mental well being for the better. When humans relate to each other, they experience a rush of dopamine, which, as we already established, make people happy.
The lyrics to a song can also affect one’s mood. Many modern pop artists write lyrics about their emotions. Music is a very good way of expressing one’s feelings, and as stated before, that is very good for one’s mental state. This is proven in an article called “Different Types of Music: How does Music Affect the Brain?” It states, “‘If you grow up with rock music, you might not find classical music uplifting at all. On the flipside, some people can't bear rock music, so they are more likely to be wound up than uplifted.’ Dr. Victoria Williamson, lecturer in psychology at Goldsmith's College, London says, ‘Music can also invoke particular memories for people, including some that could potentially make them upset. On the other hand, it could also bring them out of a severely withdrawn state or act as a form of communication in place of words.’” However, some people argue that the type of music matters. These people would believe that certain bands have negative effects on others and therefore forbid it from being played. But many studies prove that this is not true; as long as you like the music, you will be happy. And happiness is one of the greatest things on the planet.
The lyrics aren’t the only things that have effect on your mind, however. The tune of a song can also have an affect on a human’s mood. For example, if the tune is sad and slow, it can cause the person listening to not experience similar emotions, but rather sympathize for the person who wrote it. When listening to happy, upbeat music you can wonder why the artist who wrote it was feeling that way. All in all, this highlights the different ways music can affect one’s mind.