Pumping effortless with music (Image: Dragan Trifunovic/Getty)
SEX and drugs and rock and roll. Release of the brain’s natural painkillers make the first two experiences feel good. Now it seems that these opoids are also responsible for music’s myriad effects on mood, pain and well-being, giving clues to how we can harness its benefits.
Like other pleasurable experiences, there are two components to enjoying music: anticipation of hearing your favourite song, and then actually hearing it. The brain signalling chemical dopamine, which is linked to reward, is involved in both phases. But neuroscientists have wondered for decades whether there…
