Vinyl Bay 777, Long Island’s top music outlet, takes a brief look at the effects of music on the brain
We all know that certain songs give us immense joy. And
while those songs differ for everyone, the reaction is always the same. We
smile, we dance. Listening to music does something indescribable that provides
us with a certain pleasure.
A new study
in the journal ‘Nature’ came out this week confirming that there is a
connection between the effect our favorite music has on us and the pleasure
center in our brains. In fact, when it comes to giving us pleasure, listening
to music has the same effect as taking drugs, consuming food or having sex.
As reported by LiveScience,
for this double-blind study, researchers used a group of 15 participants,
giving half a drug that blocks opioid receptors in the brain and the other half
a placebo. Then, the participants were told to listen to music, two songs that
the participants chose that make them happy and a few the researchers chose
that were meant to be neutral. Those that received the opioid blocker reported
not feeling the same kind of enjoyment they usually get from the songs they
chose.
We have long known that music has a positive effect on our
brains. Research
has shown that playing an instrument helps quicken reaction times, as well as
encourage learning and creativity in children. Listening to music can help
to improve peoples’ moods and concentrate better on tasks at work. For
years, music has been used as a form of therapy
for people with severe memory issues, like dementia, movement issues, like
Parkinson’s, and patients who have had a stroke and lost their speech. It even creates community and helps people
relate better to others. To say that the effects of music on the brain are highly
important is an understatement.
Though 15 participants are not enough to call this study
conclusive, it does warrant more research to be done on the subject. If we know
what kind of effect music has on opioid receptors, what kind of effect might it
have on dopamine, the other pleasure hormone, levels in the brain?
Music does powerful things to the brain. It has the ability
to improve our mood, reflexes, memories, relationships and more. With this new
study showing that music can have the same pleasurable effect on the brain as
sex and drugs, we are inching ever closer to fully understanding the magnitude
of music’s power.
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Feed the pleasure centers in your brain by picking up new
music at Long Island’s top new independent record shop, Vinyl Bay 777. Come
down and browse our wide selection of new and used vinyl, CDs, cassettes, DVDs,
memorabilia and more. We have thousands of titles to choose from with more
being added all the time. Can’t make it to the store? Check out our website,
vinylbay777.com, and peruse our selection from the comfort of your own home.
Make your brain happy today!
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