Can listening to music in a social context reduce our stress response?
Several researchers have shown that listening to music has beneficial effects on the body’s stress response. Listening to music can reduce levels of cortisol, the primary stress hormone.
In Germany, Dre Alexandra Linneman and her colleagues conducted a study to determine how social context (the presence of others) and music have an impact on the stress response. In this study, 53 participants were asked to provide saliva samples in which researchers measured cortisol. They kept a log of when they listened to music and whether they were in the presence of others or alone while listening.
The results showed that listening to music in a social context (with friends) is associated with a reduction in the concentration of stress hormones. Participants’ cortisol levels were significantly lower when they listened to music in the company of others than when they did so alone or did not listen to music at all. In the same study, researchers observed that in addition to reducing participants’ physiological stress, listening to music as a group reduced their subjective stress (perceived stress). Furthermore, the results showed that listening to music in the presence of others is associated with an increase in positive emotions and social cohesion.
So why not listen to music with your family, friends or even with coworkers? You will reap all the benefits and potentially reduce stress levels in your loved ones, while enjoying time together!
Results : https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306453016301767?via%3Dihub
Biology of stress : https://stresshumain.ca/le-stress/quest-ce-que-le-stress/biologie-du-stress/