Why we love music

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Surely you thought about the question before: Why do we listen to music? Often, the answer is because we like it, it makes uf feel good. But why exactly is that? In 2001, the Neurologists Anne Blood and Robert Zatorre from McGill University in Montreal, asked the same question.

Listening to music triggers our brains to produce a substance called dopamine, a so-called "happiness hormone". Why exactly music works in this way is still unknown, but there are a lot of theories. For one, we tend to process emotions with music. When listening to music, our brains produce a small amount of dopamine for us to work with. And because we crave dopamine, we continue listening!

One example for conveying emotions in media is the tragic movie scene: Sentimental music plays, making us feel sad, even though we know it's not quite real. The intensity of your reaction depends on your taste in music, not everyone reacts the same way.

Another theory revolves around pleasure: Take food, as an example. We love the feeling connected to it, the satisfaction, which then fulfills the craving we had for it initially. Thus, we treat ourselves with specific snacks and meals to obtain this feeling.

When it comes to music, we behave quite similarly. We love the feeling music invokes, and we treat ourselves by listening to it.

In the end, maybe the reason why we love music is not that important, after all. It satisfies us, helps us, or is just relaxing. The only important thing is that is stays this way.

Marc from sonata