Listening to music and dopamine

[django1]

Research shows that listening to music releases the same brain chemicals as food, drugs and sex.

Of course we knew that implicitely: sex, drugs and rock and roll!:rock:

This is pretty fascinating:" Dr. Levitin said humans are a musical species and that our brains co-evolved with music as a means of communicating with each other."

[ben9732]

So lets see - there are very, very few women who are on the audio forums compared to men. So if they do not have the same longing for that chemical it might explain a few things ......

[InfernoSTi]

I posted this in the other thread but thought I'd repost here for those who don't really read five pages deep into the DIY threads! :dizzy:

Effect of music on cortisol levels in humans

Different types of music may significantly affect blood cortisol levels. Cortisol and adrenaline are two "stress" hormones that are secreted by the adrenal glands in response to ACTH. In one experiment, patients who had just been informed of their need for imminent surgery, were tested for blood cortisol concentrations after listening to a calming piece of music, chosen by each patient in consultation with a music therapist; cortisol levels were reduced by 50% compared with the control group that did not listen to any music. In another experiment, this time with healthy people, similar results were obtained by playing sitar music by Ravi Shankar, whereas a waltz by Johann Strauss and a rhythmically irregular, somewhat discordant piece by contemporary composer W.H. Henze had no effect.

Elevated cortisol levels are normal and desirable in certain circumstances, including high-intensity exercise. Trained runners are able to induce high levels of cortisol quickly without the aid of energizing musical accompaniment, but it was found that such music could aid untrained runners in producing such levels faster. Energizing music with a fast tempo had this effect, but slow, calming music did not, as might be expected. Perhaps sports team managers have always known this, thus the popularity of strident tunes played by brass bands before and during games to whip both players and spectators into a frenzy. One also might wonder whether certain types of agitating music, such as rock or heavy metal may induce excessive cortisol over extended periods of time and become addictive, in a similar manner to the adrenal rush one gets from coffee.

http://www.rmhiherbal.org/review/2002-1.html