Why music is great for your mental health

Posted Monday 21 February 2011

Last month, researchers found that music releases dopamine, the feel-good chemical in your brain. It also found that dopamine was up to 9% higher when volunteers listened to music that they enjoyed. It may be obvious to us, but it is strong evidence for the link between music and mental wellbeing.

As part of our Taking care of business campaign, we also ran a simple survey asking people how they use music to boost their mood. We surveyed over a thousand people and surprisingly only a third of people use music to give them a lift when they feel down at work.

It may be because people generally can’t listen to music at work — only half of employers surveyed allowed their staff to listen to music at work. It may also be because of the working environment: if you work directly with customers, drive or are in an open plan office, you can’t really listen to music while you work.

I love to listen to music at work, but at Mind we have an open plan office which makes it hard. It’s tough to find the right balance between enjoying music and disturbing people. And then of course there is the most controversial question of all — what to play?

(Tell us what your favourite working tunes are on Facebook or Twitter and we’ll add them to our Spotify playlist)

At another workplace we were split into small rooms; in our room there were only 8 of us and we could easily agree what to play (most of the time!). I think the music really helped, the office became a much more relaxing place to be.

Of course, there are lots of other things you can do besides playing music to manage stress, like eating properly and not working long hours.

Tell me what you think – is music an important part of your working life? Do you have a team radio or do you use headphones? What do you do to manage stress at work?

Taryn Ozorio, Mind Communications

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7 Comments

• Jan replied on 21 Feb 2011 at 14:28

  It really would have to be music one liked. Music is catharsis and sensuality to me; I like loud rock music, too quiet would just annoy me, as would traditionally calming stuff like classical. But then I prefer physical work, so I don't know what would be appropriate for an office environment as that would be a nightmare scenario for me anyway!

• Taryn@Mind replied on 21 Feb 2011 at 14:50

  Thanks for your comment, Jan. Music is so personal isn't it?

• ebonycat replied on 22 Feb 2011 at 12:35

  Music features heavily in my psychosis and makes me ill
  if I am in an area where muzak is played I have to avoid it because it is detrimental to my health, it triggers delusions

  Not everyone finds it relieves stress I find it does the opposite

• Donnard replied on 23 Feb 2011 at 09:46

  Can I make a small point? It way well be that when we hear music we like there is a greater amount of activity in those nerve cells that use dopamine to trigger each other. But music makes us feel good because we know it. If we found out that music caused a decrease in the activity of those nerve cells would that mean that music isn't good for our mental health? I don't think so. I know a fair bit about neuroscience, but I think that we suspend our critical facilities every time someone uses a scientific term like neurotransmitter - they can be talking nonsense. We know how we are feeling because we know how we are feeling, not because of a biological description of it.

  And Ebonycat's comment is very pertinent too - it depends totally on the individual and their own personal history - some people are going to be triggered in a different way from others because of how their lives have gone.

  Steven Rose, professor of Biology at the Open University and a leading neuroscientist, takes a thoughtful look at the issues here: http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=102931&sectioncode=26

• Christina Young replied on 2 Mar 2011 at 12:12

  I like listening to music when I choose. I hate music being imposed upon me, and I find it impossible to concentrate to work (unless it is purely physical work) with music playing in the background. Enforced music in my place of work caused some of us intolerable stress and inability to concentrate. Eventually our manager agreed it would not be played while we were in the office. I am a life member of Pipedown www.pipedown.co.uk, along with Stephen Fry, Joanna Lumley, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies (Master of the Queen's Music) and many others who campaign against enforced piped muzac, which pollutes just about everywhere these days. Todays Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/8291272/Queens-composer-demands-clampdown-on-piped-muzak.html# has
  an article about Sir Peter's campiagn against this menace that he rightly says is destroying our capacity to enjoy peace and quiet. I am appalled that Mind, which is a brilliant organisation in which I am very involved, is being so irresponsible as to fail to emphasise that if people want to listen to music in public or the workplace they should use headphones - and make sure the headphones don't "leak" music and annoy others. Everytime I travel on a bus or train I have to complain about this - even in the "quiet zone" on trains. As Ebonycat rightly says, not everyone finds it relieves stress, it can do just the opposite. Like Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, whilst I do enjoy music, to have if forced upon me is an invasion of privacy.

• Taryn@Mind replied on 3 Mar 2011 at 12:55

  Good point, Christina and thanks for sharing the link to pipedown. But this isn't Mind policy, just a discussion about using music to manage work stress. I hate muzak and I wouldn't want to force muzak on people, nor do I want to cause stress to those who don't find music relaxing. I am interested in the different ways people cope with stress at work - which might be using earplugs to find peace and quiet.

• Nigel Rodgers replied on 7 Mar 2011 at 10:12

  It is well known that music can have beneficial effects on listeners who like it and welcome it. Conversely, those who do not want to listen to it - at least not at that moment - can find it a uniquely irritating or depressing noise. Music which is a delight if freely chosen is a torment when it is not. One person's heavenly music easily turns into another's hellish din. The negative physical effects include raised blood pressure and stress hormones. The mental effects are less easily measurable but reactions to music may be uniquely powerful. (An extreme but fortunately rare reaction to unwanted loud music is to trigger fits among epileptics.) Far more common is the way unwanted music can trigger or worsen hyperacusis and/or tinnitis among sufferers. Among people with hearing problems - 14 % of the overall population, according to the RNID's surveys - 86% object to piped or unwanted music. Such people may well be found in the workplace. They may not, however, like to speak up against colleagues or superiors who choose music to be played over them.
  As most of us now have Iplayers or other personal stereos, there is simply no need for people to inflict their own choice on others. To talk of taking in earplugs to protect against such music is surely as misplaced as talk of taking in gas masks to protect against cigarette smoke?
  We have to start thinking about the real ill effects of 'passive listening.'
  Music may harm rather than help productivity, anway. A recent study by Nick Perham and Joanne Vizard of the University of Wales in the journal Applied Cognitive Psychology reported that music at work actually harmed rather than helped concentration. I suspect that much depends on the individual – which is why music should be kept private in the workplace.