Your body on music It can make your mind sharper and your spirit soar
It makes your mind sharper and lets your spirit soar. So whatever beats your drum – whether it’s Ed Sheeran or Mozart – let music pump up
your mind-body wellbeing.
The second you push “play”, lightning-fast sound waves pass through your eardrums and jiggle the bones of your inner ears. Those vibrations then trigger nerve signals, which speed through your brain, setting off a series of reactions that could:
BOOST YOUR MOOD
The amygdala, which acts as a storehouse of emotions in the brain, quickly analyses chords and tones to determine whether the music appeals to you – and just how passionate your response will be. If you dig the beat, your nucleus accumbens, a major player in the brain’s reward system, releases the feel-good neurotransmitter dopamine. (Yep, the same one involved in all kinds of pleasure rushes.)
TRIGGER MEMORIES
Nerve cells that fire together, wire together – so the next time you play this tune, your brain may call up what you were doing and how you were feeling when you heard it last. It’s a powerful connection: when you’re feeling blue, cue up a tune from a happier time.
FUEL THINKING
Music is an intellectual experience, so in order to understand and appreciate its complexity, you need to use your noggin. Specifically, your prefrontal cortex, the brain’s centre for executive thought. This may be why listening to music is often linked to better brain function.
SOOTHE STRESS
Hearing mellow music might help your body dial down the production of stress hormones, like cortisol or epinephrine. (Over time, high levels of these can harm your health.) Calming tunes, like you’d hear at a beauty spa, might also prompt a slowing of your heart rate or a deepening of your breathing.
TWEAK METABOLISM
Relaxing sounds might increase your body’s production of growth hormone, which, in turn, promotes a healthy metabolism. This can also help keep dangerous inflammation in check – crucial for a healthy immune system.
CALM PAIN PERCEPTION
All types of music seem to have an in-the-moment crushing effect on pain and anxiety. So if you’re in the dentist’s chair dreading some drill work, power up your favourite playlist.