With the many different genres of music out there for all to listen to, music has been proven to increase our moods. Music can help you get in a groovy mood, help you relax and sometimes even make you tear up.

When listening to music, our brains release dopamine. Dopamine makes us feel good and also relieves stress and anxiety. The beat of a song that you are listening to can influence your heart rate, and when people are singing together, their breathing often becomes synchronized, which produces positive emotions.

It has also been proven that music can reduce people’s anxiety and cortisol levels. According to thriveglobal.com, researchers studied the effects music had on patients who were due to undergo surgery. Patients were told to either listen to music or take anti-anxiety drugs. Once that was done, the researchers tracked the changes in levels of the stress hormone, cortisol.

Towards the end of the study, the researchers discovered that the patients who listened to music experienced less anxiety and lower cortisol levels rather than the patients that took the anti-anxiety drugs.

“I do believe music improves my mood. I usually listen to upbeat music so that usually gets my mood to a point where all I want to do is dance”, said Noel Herakovic, a Lakewood resident.

The next time you are feeling down, try listening to some upbeat music and see if it puts you in a mood to dance, sing or even have a smile on your face.