You are probably listening to music on your headphones at work. Whether you’re powering through your to-do list or brainstorming, the songs you’re playing influence the way your brain functions.

I am a huge fan of music and play it after work. However, I didn’t have a clue about how it influences our bodies and brains. Because music is such a significant part of our lives, I believed it’d be interesting and helpful to take a peek at a few of the ways we respond to it without even understanding.

Music impacts many distinct regions of the mind. So we’re just scratching the surface in this particular story, but let us jump in.

We can choose to listen to a piece of music that is very sad or happy, but this is not a subjective idea that comes from the way that it makes us feel. In reality, our brains respond differently to joyful and sad songs.

Even brief parts of joyful or sad music may affect us. One study revealed that after hearing a short bit of music, participants were somewhat likely to translate a more neutral expression as joyful or depressed, to coincide with the tone of their songs they were listening to.

Another thing that is intriguing about the way our emotions are influenced by music is there are two sorts of emotions associated with songs: perceived feelings and sensed feelings.

This means that occasionally we can comprehend the emotions of a piece of music without really feeling them. That explains why a few people find listening to sad songs pleasurable, instead of depressing.

Unlike in real-life scenarios, we do not feel any actual threat or danger if listening to music; therefore we can perceive the associated emotions without actually feeling them.

Still another study performed on teens, and young adults concentrated on how their driving is influenced by music.

Drivers were analysed while listening with their choice of music, silent or “secure” music options supplied by the investigators. Needless to say, their very own music was favoured, but also, it proved to be distracting: drivers made mistakes and drove more erratically when listening to their choice of songs.

Much more surprising: songs offered by the investigators were shown to be more valuable than no music of any sort. It appears that unfamiliar, or dull music is ideal for driving.

Have you discovered anything about how music influences you? Tell us in the comments.