Joe Shmmoe
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Updated April 19, 2023
Set aside time to play a beloved old album or explore a new music genre. Your brain and mood may benefit.
“Where words fail, music speaks,” a saying attributed to Danish storyteller Hans Christian Andersen, captures music’s power to move us. Scientists are interested in the topic, too, and they’ve made some fascinating discoveries about music’s effects on the brain. The act of listening to music goes beyond the brain processing sounds; as an aesthetic experience, it can lead to feelings of happiness, according to a 2021 report in Brain Sciences. A 2020 report from AARP’s Global Council on Brain Health, “Music on Our Minds,” concluded that listening to music may help to enhance well-being, ease stress and improve mood.
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