Sad music can make you happier

When you’re feeling down, are you the type to wallow in your sadness, listening to the depressing tracks from The Smiths. Or do you crank up the volume of Beyonce’s upbeat anthems in order to blast away the blues? Recently published research that looks at the psychological effect of music has shown that the former method – seeking out sad music when your spirits are low – is the most effective method and can be a highly useful method for banishing sadness. However, it’s not as simple as labelling a song as ‘happy’ or ‘sad’ and expecting it to cheer you up. The choice of song and the reason that you have chosen it also makes a difference to how it affects your mood.

In the study, there was a clear correlation between listening to a sad song and mood enhancement – but only when the listener percieved the song to be of high aesthetic value! The study surveyed 220 people, asking each one the reason that they chose to listen to a particular song after. Participants who said that they listened to a song “to experience the beauty of sad songs” experienced the greatest change in mood, and were far more likely to feel happier. But the opposite was true if a song was percieved to be of a low standard.

The researchers who conducted the study explained this as arising due to it beng easier to concentrate on a beautiful and well-written song, serving as a better distraction from the participant’s sadness. So if you’re a music enthusiast, listening to Miley’s ‘Wrecking Ball’ may do far more harm than good.

Other factors can also contribute to a song’s effect on mood. Severeal other reasons that the participants gave included “the music reminds me of a person”, “the music contains lyrics that give me hope” and “the lyrics relate to my situation”. The latter two reasons had a positive effect on the participants, with their mood improving after listening to the songs. However, when participants gave the first reason for listening to a sad song, the song actually had a strong counter-productive effect. So, if you’re going through a break up, don’t feel afraid to wail along to Adele’s heartbreak-inspired melodies, but avoid at all costs those memory-loaded songs that you sang along to together.

For those that swear by lively, happy music to drown your blues, this all may seem very counter-intuitive, and you may not be entirely wrong. The researchers cautioned that the psychological effects of music can be very complicated and do vary for different people. It is also not simple to label a song as a ‘happy song’ or a ‘sad song’, as some may not clearly fall in to a certain category.

So next time you’re feeling down and browsing your itunes for something to distract you, choose carefully. Don’t choose the song that reminds you of an ex or a sad time in your life, but do give in to the temptation to listen to tear-jearking ballads and wallow in self-pity and sadness – you could feel surprisingly better for it!