Music takes nine minutes to make you happy

MUSIC takes 13 minutes to “release sadness” but nine to make you happy.

Researchers say they have discovered how long an individual needs to listen to music to experience a therapeutic effect.

They believe there is a “common dosage”, found by asking 7,581 people around the world to listen to different genres of music, to examine how long it took them to experience a particular change of mood.

Participants for the Music as Medicine study were not provided with music, but asked to choose their own based on the genre they were testing.

The British Academy of Sound Therapy study found that happiness is the quickest mood to achieve, at nine minutes. Perhaps unsurprisingly, to feel happy, you should choose music with a “driving rhythm, fast tempo and happy lyrical content”.

After listening to uplifting music, 65 per cent of test subjects reported they were happier and laughed more, 89 per cent had improved energy levels and 82 per cent felt more in control of their lives, all of which “had a knock-on effect of them being more positive towards others” said the researchers.

The optimum listening time required for relaxation is 13 minutes, music should have a slow tempo, simple melody and no lyrics.

Reported benefits include decreased muscle tension for 79 per cent of listeners, while 84 per cent agreed that negative thoughts started to disappear.

Feelings of peace and contentment were also recorded along with being able to sleep better.

For concentration, 13 minutes is also the magic number.

While few people tend to listen to music for focus, if the right melodies were found an impressive 91 per cent felt they were aided in their work.

Test subjects reported their “mind became clearer, they were better able to do their job” and 89 per cent said decision-making became easier. And for those using music to release sadness, 13 minutes is again optimum.

For this, it is important to choose music with lyrical content you can connect with.

The British Academy of Sound Therapy, established in 2000, runs training courses in the field of sound therapy and “set the standards for sound therapy in the UK and overseas”.

Lyz Cooper, its founder, explained that although people’s experience of music, and of their mood, is subjective, common patterns were seen throughout the study.

She said: “A lot of the work we do at the academy tends to be how music affects brain waves and heart rate, blood pressure and stress response. Those are all measurable things.

“Subjective data is still scientific if you’ve got a large enough sample size. So we do consider this study to be scientific.

“It was important for us to have a cross-cultural study because we wanted to see how music affected people mentally, emotionally and physically, regardless of where they are in the world. Music really does extend beyond boundaries.”

‘We wanted to see how music affected people... regardless of where they are in the world’