The Connection Between Music and Happiness

Music affects us all on a deep level. From the way it makes us feel, to the way it manipulates our thoughts, to the ways that it influences our behavior. 

Yet despite how widespread and significant music is in our lives, we don’t often think about how listening to music impacts us emotionally and physically. 

Tune in as I explore what research has revealed about the connection between music and happiness — and why we should never underestimate its power.

Here http://samnews.net/ is important points to show connection between music and happiness :

1. Listening to music is a universal phenomenon.

Music is a human behavior that we all participate in — and, in fact, it’s one of the most universal and cross-cultural behaviors of modern society.

2. Music can facilitate social unity among diverse groups of people.

In addition to being a universal behavior, music is the common ground that people from different cultures use to connect with each other.

 This helps us understand one another, cooperate with one another, and even be moved by each others’ cultural experiences. In fact, when we listen to music from other cultures — whether it’s classical music from Asia or European folk songs — our brain waves actually tend to synchronize with those heard in the music .

3. Music can be an important form of communication .

Emotional communication is the idea that music provides us with a way to communicate our feelings to other people in a non-verbal way.

 We can use music to help others know how we feel about them, what we want from them, and even whether or not they should trust us. 

Music can also help us express our ideas, thoughts, beliefs, and values. It’s thought that the origin of language evolved from this kind of emotional communication through sound .

4. Some people are more sensitive to music than others .

There are different kinds of listeners who respond differently to the same song. 

For example, a study from 1999 showed that people with autism had more difficulty identifying the emotional intent of music.

 Even more interesting, the ability to understand emotional communication through music seemed to be genetic

5. Music can help us process information .

Since music helps us express our emotions and thoughts, in a sense, it can help us in a scientific sense as well. In a 1999 study at Finland’s University of Kuopio for instance, dance music was shown to have the potential to help university students learn faster and better. 

Researchers used another study from 2008 that shows it’s possible for people with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease to actually improve their memory when listening to classical music .

6. Music can be used to reduce stress .

Several studies have shown that certain types of music can help us lower our anxiety levels, stimulate positive emotions, and induce relaxation. 

This is the same idea behind the use of music therapy in hospitals and clinics.

7. Listening to music can serve as a stress reliever .

In a 2002 study from the University of Helsinki , it was found that people who listened to classical music while exercising exhibited improved heart rates and blood pressure after exercise, while those who listened to rock music were more likely to exhibit decreased heart rates and blood pressure during exercise .

8. Music can even improve your immune system .

The Journal of Music Therapy published a study in 2009 that revealed that not only does music help regulate the body’s response to stress — it also has a direct and positive effect on your immune system

. This means that listening to soothing music not only helps reduce the symptoms of stress, but it actually makes your body less vulnerable to diseases and infections .

9. Music can influence how we move .

Even scientists who study animal behavior have found value in studying how music can influence movement and behavior in non-human animals. 

For example, in a study from 2008 at Stanford University, researchers found that capuchin monkeys responded to music in an “entrained” fashion — meaning that they moved in time with the beat, and could even recognize unfamiliar music with a consistent tempo. 

However, chimpanzees did not respond to changes in tempo at all .

10. Music can improve motor skills .

Hearing music can also help us learn how to navigate physical space more efficiently — similarly to how we process the sound of voices that helps us detect where other people are speaking from. 

This is because we rely on both vision and hearing to perceive the locations of objects and people around us .