Can Music Activate Our Pleasure System?
Can Music Activate Our Pleasure System?
By the end of this article you should have the answers to the following questions:
- Why do we fall in love with music?
- Why does music give pleasure?
- How does your brain react to music?
- Does music increase endorphins?
- How does music affect dopamine levels?
We’ve all listened to the same song on repeat, we’ve all drummed or sung as loud as we could.
Music makes us feel energetic, powerful and inspired but why?
A study from 2017 found that your favorite songs activates the same part of your brain as many addictive substances
Activating our pleasure system
Most drugs stimulate the nucleus accumbens or neck
The neck is your brains main pleasure center so it controls motivation, rewards and enforcement learning.
Try thinking back to when you were in school and you got a good grade on your test.
What’s the first thing you did?
You probably went to tell your parents/guardians.
You instinctively knew they would be proud of you which told you neck to pump your body with feel good hormones like dopamine.
Turns out your favorite songs do the same thing
Researchers tested this by shutting down opioid receptors in the brain.
This technique normally helps people struggling with alcoholism
What researchers discovered was that after losing these receptors people no longer enjoyed their favorite songs
Does that mean that music is an addictive substance?
Not exactly.
Although some people start to crave the way music makes them feel
While music maybe one of the healthiest addictions it’s important to keep any craving under control
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