7 Reasons Why Sad Songs Really Can Make You Feel Better

In 2014, a group of scientists did a survey online and got some pretty amazing results — listening to sad music can actually be beneficial for your emotional health. Another recent study, conducted in 2019, brought this topic up again and proved that depressed people prefer sad music over happy music, as they believe it improves their sense of well-being.

We, from incredible.club, we decided to learn more about the real reasons that lead to well-being when we listen to sad music and, therefore, we have separated 7 reasons for you. Follow!

Often, we associate music with some pleasant moments of our life, be it the first date with our ex or a family reunion in our childhood. And surprisingly, even sad songs can make us feel that way.

Studies show that, instead of making us feel unhappy or sad, negative songs actually put us in a nostalgic mood. Nostalgia is a bittersweet emotion that inspires our imagination and it gives us a feeling of comfort, evoking warm memories of the past.

It turns out that the sadness evoked by music can actually be pleasant. For this, according to scientists, sad music must meet 3 criteria — be perceived as non-threatening, be aesthetically pleasing, and recall past events.

According to social psychology, we tend to feel better about ourselves if we focus on someone who is doing much worse than we are🇧🇷 This process is called downward social comparison. For example, if Radiohead’s Thom Yorke is singing that he’s having an even worse day than you, your mood lifts and you subconsciously start to feel better.

Another point of social psychology is that people like to listen to music that reflects the tone of the situation they are in. In this case, sad songs work as a kind of tuning fork for our own mood — they resonate with us, helping us to feel that we are not alone when we experience pain and sadness in this world.

Scientists believe that sad music can increase the level of prolactin, a hormone that helps fight grief. This happens because, when listening to these songs, our body starts to prepare itself for a bad event, but the music ends and the event does not happen. After this experience, our body gets a pleasant feeling of relief.

Listening to music also releases dopamine, an important chemical messenger that helps regulate many functions in our bodies, including our sense of pleasure and motivation. It puts music in the same vein as food and sex.which are good ways to deal with a bad mood.

For most people, listening to sad music can be an effective way to deal with your own emotions. For example, if you’ve had a recent breakup, you might hear Someone Like You, by Adele, and this song can make you feel even worse, to the point of crying. However, after crying, you will feel better and be able to focus on thoughts of moving on.

This phenomenon is called catharsis, and it actually helps us to deal with our feelings of sadness and thinking about how to overcome the difficult situation.

According to a study, depressed people prefer sad songs because are generally low in terms of energy levels and that’s why they produce a relaxing effect. So instead of adding to or sustaining sad feelings, this kind of music actually helps us take a deep breath and regain calm.

Does sad music make you feel better? Please share your favorites in the comments!