Does your happiness depend on music?
Music is known to tap into various areas of the human brain, which is why it is used to treat hospitalized patients with mental illnesses or brain injuries. What most people want to know is, does music really have the ability to influence your mood? Studies have shown that yes, music does have the ability to affect your mood, but only if you are willing to let it. The University of Missouri has done a huge study on this topic. Their scientists have studied this specific topic in depth in order to find the true answer to everyone's question. The scientists at the University of Missouri found the answer to the question, “Does music really have the ability to influence your mood?”
What they asked was, what are the factors of the music that cause your mood to be affected? Is it the lyrics, the voice, the rhythm, or the tone? Surprisingly, studies have shown that the benefiting factors of music that affect a person's mood is both the rhythm and the tone in a certain composition. According to scientists, when we listen to a rhythm, our heart syncs with the rhythm. Which is pretty fascinating when you ask me. Scientists have found from their studies that when people listen to upbeat music seeking to improve their mood, it works out for them. Upbeat music causes a very fast heartbeat that is related to excitement. Same thing for when they are seeking for music to depress and sadden their mood, which creates a very slow heartbeat with a strong “diastolic pressure” that tells the brain that something sad and depressing is occurring. They also discovered that when a person listens to upbeat music not seeking to improve their mood, their mood does not change as a result.
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According to the University of Missouri, not only can music improve your temporary mood, but it can play as a beneficial factor to your quality of life as well. Yuna Ferguson, a scientist from the University of Missouri, stated “Although pursuing personal happiness may be thought of as a self-centered venture, research suggests that happiness relates to a higher probability of socially beneficial behavior, better physical health, higher income, and greater relationship satisfaction.”According to one study, the preference for sad music was” significantly higher when people experienced an interpersonal loss as opposed to an impersonal loss”, such as losing a game of any kind. Another study showed that people who were presented with multiple frustrating situation and asked to “rate angry music” instead of joyful or relaxing music. The listeners liked the angry music more when they were feeling frustrated by interpersonal violations.
These studies performed by the scientists at the University of Missouri really fascinate me. Personally, I love music and it plays an important role in my life. I’ve always known that music had the ability to affect my mood due to the fact that every time I’m seeking to be in a good mood, I always play music. But learning about the science behind music influencing the brain is pretty cool. When I hang out with my friends, we are always playing music that makes us the most happy. We love to listen to music that we can all sing along to and jam out. When you have one person listening to music seeking to improve their mood, there are good relative frequencies throughout the atmosphere around you, but when you have a group of people doing it, it’s much different. You have a group of people listening to a song to improve their mood and the “vibes” they are giving off improves your mood as well. Have you ever been around a person that carries bad vibes? “Bad vibes” meaning being around you doesn't make you feel good. You will either feel awkward, bad about yourself, or angry. If you try to listen to a music that makes you happy with someone who has bad vibes, they disrupt your vibes, and your frequencies don’t match. That’s why you always want to make sure that you surround yourself with people who carry good vibes and that can match your frequencies, instead of people that can’t. Which is exactly why my friends and I enjoy listening to the music that we love all together. If you talk to any of my friends, they are just as passionate about music as I am. If you ask one of them, they’ll tell you that music can honestly improve the ability of one's life. And they’ll tell you that music can get you through ups and downs throughout your life.
