How Music Can Help Improve Your Mental Health

Of course, music makes us happy, it can remind us of better times or good memories, it can even help us focus or feel motivated. But why is it exactly that music can have such a positive effect on our mental health? 

Music can affect our minds in different ways depending on what we listen to and what we like. It’s obvious why songs of heartbreak and loss can make us feel down but it's actually a chemical reaction that makes us feel so good when we hear our favorite tunes. When we hear music that we like our brains release dopamine, also known as the happy hormone. The release of this hormone gives us an overall better mood and can make us feel happier and more relaxed. This is why we each have a genre that makes us feel our best or a personal favorite as well as the ones that will bring us down.  

However not only can music lighten our mood, it can also help us relax which is great for those who suffer mental illnesses such as anxiety and depression. Music can act as a form of self-expression, a creative outlet or a social event which can help people with social anxiety or those with trouble expressing thoughts and feelings find a way better express themselves. This is why music therapy has grown more and more popular in recent years.  

So, whether you're feeling down, anxious or unmotivated, music is always there to lend a helping hand.