Music And Your Brain: It’ll Blow Your Mind!

Have you found yourself tapping along to music you like? That’s your motor cortex, auditory cortex, and your cerebellum helping you figure out the rhythm and moving your body to the beat! Maybe now you’re humming or singing along with the melody. Well, that’s your auditory cortex distinguishing different pitches and tones in the music. These are just a few of the amazing ways that music interacts with our brains. Music actually activates almost every single area of your brain! What makes music so integral to who we are and what we experience is because of the positive effect that music has on our brains.

When we listen to music that we enjoy, this activates the nucleus accumbens: the part of the brain responsible for pleasure and reward. This area releases a chemical called dopamine, best known for helping us experience happiness. “This is great news!” you may be thinking to yourself, “I’ll just listen to my favorite songs all the time so I’ll always be happy!” Unfortunately, there are many times where we are not happy and even our favorite tunes don’t seem to turn our frowns upside down. This is where we tend to look for solace in songs that match our negative emotions such as anger or sadness. Interestingly enough, listening to sad music when we’re sad releases a chemical called prolactin that has a soothing effect, making us feel comforted. Believe it or not, but listening to music that we enjoy can also increase the proteins and cells, such as immunoglobulin A and T cells, that are critical to your body’s immune system and help your body fight off infection!

Thank you, music!