Listen: There’s a surprising antidote to feeling stress, pain, loneliness or lack of motivation. 

It’s called music. 

Music influences the brain to regulate hormones in a way that can neutralize negative feelings, says Amit Avron, a lecturer in psychology and education at the Open University of Israel. 

“It’s free or cheap, you don’t have to go to a clinic, and it’s available anywhere — although peak experiences with music usually happen live in public places,” Avron tells ISRAEL21c.  

One before-and-after study of concertgoers showed that their levels of cortisol (the “stress hormone”) had fallen by 30 percent by the end of the performance. 

“In the short term, cortisol is good; it diverts energy for survival. But in the long term, too much cortisol can kill you because it actually shrinks your hippocampus, the brain area responsible for memory storage,” says Avron. 

And although the test subjects were listening to classical music, the genre doesn’t matter, he adds. Happily, you can achieve the same effect at home with your favorite music.

Music and the brain

Avron, 51, has given more than 1,300 popular lectures on different aspects of music, emotions and the brain — the intersection of neuroscience and psychology in everyday life. 

These public lectures are more in demand than ever in Israel, due to the tension, personal difficulties and uncertainty enveloping the country in the ongoing war.  

An amateur guitarist since his youth, Avron says he was always keen to understand the “why” of how music affects us emotionally and cognitively. 

After earning a master’s degree in clinical neuropsychology from the University of Haifa, he went to England in 2012 to pursue a master’s degree in music, mind and brain from Goldsmith’s, University of London. 

“My thesis was measuring musicality in non-musicians. People enjoy and use music without learning an instrument, and you don’t have to be a musician to be highly responsive to music,” he says.

Avron also investigated whether musical people have higher IQs, and found “a high correlation between linguistic and musical abilities.”

Returning to Israel, he discovered much popular interest in brain science and began developing lectures based on research. Among his 40 topics are intelligence and creativity; neuro ethics; neuro aesthetics; how the brain appreciates beauty; memory and the brain; brain disease; and language in the brain.

The pain hormone

Getting back to those four common feelings in daily life – stress, pain, loneliness, and lack of motivation – Avron explains that the brain can respond using four relevant chemicals: cortisol, oxytocin, dopamine and endorphins.

We’ve already discussed how music downregulates the stress hormone cortisol. Now we’ll see how it increases levels of the other three, starting with endorphins.

“The brain releases endorphins that dim feelings of pain in the brainstem,” says Avron. “This has been measured scientifically. That’s why music is used at the dentist’s office and in the delivery room.”

But there’s a catch: “It won’t work if you don’t like the music you’re hearing. It only works when you are immersed in your preferred music,” says Avron.

“There’s no general recipe like ‘Mozart for a toothache,’ so always take your music with you in situations where you anticipate pain.” 

The social hormone

Often referred to as “the love hormone,” oxytocin is actually “the social hormone, making you feel that you belong to something greater, leading to a feeling of social cohesion,” says Avron.

“When you’re listening to music in a social context like a singalong, or performing music with a band or choir, there is a release of oxytocin from the brain.”

So if you’re lonely, go make music with a group, even if they’re strangers – such as Israel’s social singing project, Kooloolam. 

Below is the Kooloolam version of Coldplay’s “Fix You” produced during that most lonely of times, the Covid pandemic.

The motivation hormone

Dopamine, a neuromodulator often called “the feel-good hormone,” elevates your state of mind and motivates you to do more of whatever activity you may otherwise be tempted to stop – whether it’s peeling potatoes or painting a wall. 

“It’s easier to do menial tasks with music in the background,” says Avron. “Researchers have seen in fMRI studies that when people like the music they’re hearing, areas of the brain responsible for dopamine secretion are working hard.”

Freud’s music disorder and other factoids

Here’s a sampling of musical facts from Avron.

• Babies who heard a certain lullaby repeatedly during their last two months in utero are measurably surprised when hearing a modified version of the melody in their first hour of life. 

• Areas in the brain responsible for musical memories are relatively spared in Alzheimer’s patients, allowing them to retain recognition of favorite songs.

• Listening to music helps Parkinson’s patients walk more vigorously and symmetrically; and playing a musical instrument eases cerebral palsy symptoms. 

• Aphasia (inability to communicate) from left hemisphere brain damage can be treated with music intonation therapy where you sing what you want to say. This builds new language areas in the right hemisphere.

• Sigmund Freud was one of the 3-5% of the population with congenital amusia – a sensory disorder affecting the ability to sing on pitch, remember or recognize pieces of music, or even hear basic differences between notes. “It all sounds like noise to them,” says Avron. 

• Music lifts soldiers’ spirits and synchronizes their movements. Conversely, music can be used as an instrument of psychological terror or torture, like this Hamas clip released in 2017 intended to frighten Israelis.

• The music you listened to during the “reminiscence bump” of ages 15 to 25 will always be “your desert island music,” says Avron. Scientists say memories are easily accessible from the reminiscence bump because they’re linked to self-identity. 

Everyday music tips 

Here are some useful tips from Avron on how to use music to enhance or change your emotions in the moment:

• Choose a playlist suited to your desired mood. 

If you want to be more active and motivated, choose uplifting, energetic music. If you want to relax and destress, choose mellow or escapist songs without depressing lyrics. 

Avron’s personal escapist favorites are 1970s tunes from Pink Floyd and Queen that “make you feel like you’re in an alternative universe and help you daydream in a positive way.”

• Immerse yourself.

To get full desired effect of music, don’t listen while doing something counterproductive to achieving that goal, like reading depressing news. Immerse yourself fully in the songs for a “dose” of 20 to 30 minutes.

• Don’t study or drive to music 

Music, especially with lyrics, diverts your attention. If you do listen to background music, choose instrumental songs. 

Avron says a British insurance company studied which musical genres caused less accidents and found that the safest drivers drove in silence. “But if you have a long ride, energetic music can keep you from falling asleep.”