Music is not only entertainment. It is one of the most accessible and powerful means of regulating our mental state, but we continue to underestimate its potential. It is time for society to embrace the therapeutic power of music not only in clinical environment, but also in our daily life.
We already know that music can stir emotions – soothe our nerves, lift our mood, make us cry. But in recent years, research in my laboratory at the University of Bergen, Norway suggests that it can change the content of our thoughts. In our 2019 study, the participants listened to heroic or sad music while their mind wandered. The results were striking: the edifying music sparked energizing and constructive thoughts, while the sad music evoked those more calm or more demotivating. This influence is not only curiosity; It has consequences for mental health.
Our minds are frequently wandering, with a study by Harvard University noting that we dream for almost half of the time we are awake and that we are generally less happy when this happens. Even pleasant thoughts do not improve the mood considerably. For what? Because during these periods, the brain’s default fashion network (DMN) takes over. This supports imagination, memory and reflection, but often drifts in repetitive, intrusive and negative loops of thought: concerns at 3 am, the regrets of the train journey.
In recent brain imaging studies, we have shown that negative reveries, especially during sad music, engage the brain pain system as well as DMN. Certain areas, such as the posterior cingular furrow, seem to mediate this link. It turns out that overwhelming thoughts are more than metaphorically painful – they recruit the same networks as physical discomfort.
Fortunately, the DMN has a natural counterpart: the executive network, which supports concentration and behavior led by objectives. The two systems are anticorrelated, which means that when one is active, the others calm down. And music, especially when we actively commit, can move to this more adaptive mode. Whether by pressing along, breathing in rhythm or humming internally, we redirect attention, disturb the negative loops of thought and give our minds a cognitive “reset”.
This improves more than mood improvement. In a study in 2023, we found that people who pressed music felt much less physical pain in experiences where a short explosion of pressure was applied to their nails than those who simply listened to. The combination of musical immersion and motor synchronization has strengthened pain reduction effects to a clinically significant degree.
These results suggest that musical engagement is a kind of pleasant meditation. And the evolution may have shaped our brain to seek music for this reason, improving resilience as well as the increase in social ties.
The thought behind all this is presented in my new book, Good vibrations: unlock the healing power of music. I also share simple techniques such as breathing focused on music and mood stenosis reading lists that can help regulate emotion, reduce anxiety and relieve negative thoughts.
If music can do all of this, it must be recognized as much more than the lifestyle accessory to which it can look like. It must be integrated into schools, public health strategies and daily routines. Musicotherapy should be more widely accessible and musical education (often first in the cuts in programs) considered it really: a form of brain care, emotional literacy and social medicine.
Music is always at hand. The next time your spiral thoughts or stress are starting to bite, instead of reaching the news application on your phone, put your favorite song. Your brain – and your company – could just thank you.
Stefan Koelsch is a professor of psychology at the University of Bergen, Norway
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