Music is powerful.

Think back on the epic-ness of experiencing your favorite bands in concert, or the nostalgia of listening to an album you revered in high school. Or stifling the urge to dance to your favorite song while shopping. Nothing’s quite as validating as your tunes echoing through the food court or down the baked goods aisle. Music speaks to the soul. That’s part of how music is calming and can help you relax, pump you up during a run, or even help you focus at work or school.

Thanks to science, this emotional range isn’t just anecdotal. Listening to music comes with tangible benefits, including a direct correlation between music and stress relief. Understanding the chemical reactions in your brain relating to sound is key to unlocking the calming magic of music. Even if you already know how awesomely powerful music can be, now you can explain it with sound science.

How Sound Harmonizes with Your Mood

Sound waves affect hearing, one of your five primary senses (scientifically called audition). Hearing is intrinsically linked to many of your body’s physiological reactions. Your ear drums pick up sound from a variety of sources, like birds chirping, a friend’s voice through a cell phone, the chime of an oven timer, or your amped-up workout playlist. The brain converts these sound waves into electrochemical nerve signals—and this is where sound really strikes a chord.

Sharp, loud noises trigger your brain to release cortisol, increasing your heart rate and priming the fight-or-flight response. The sound of a familiar or foreign voice will set off a different chemical cascade, and your brain and body respond accordingly. And though it used to be vital to survival, such a well-developed auditory system is now far more useful for communication. With the concerns of humanity shifting from wildlife to the workweek, your ears are tuned less to leopards and more to Def Leppard.

So, how does music reduce stress? Scientific evidence shows music affects your body like any other sound. Rhythms, beats, and audio samples often imitate nature, and the power of voice carries through both analog and digital means. Your ears signal your brain to produce dopamine, whether it’s Johnny Cash crooning or a favorite uncle cracking another bad joke.

Depending on the track, songs can impact:

• dopamine, DHEA, cortisol, and other hormone levels
• heart rate, respiratory rate, and blood pressure
• the psychobiological stress system
• perceived stress levels and mood
• post-task mental and physical revitalization
• alertness and energy levels

With such an array of physical and chemical effects, it’s no wonder there’s a strong correlation between music and stress relief. Many of these same chemicals are linked to emotion, making music another sure way to master your mood.

Beat Stress with BPM—Beats Per Minute

Music can reduce stress and positively affect your body in a variety of ways. You may find yourself asking, “Is this true of all music?” “Does the scale make a difference?” And what if you can’t stand classical compositions—will they still help you focus?

As it turns out, taste has a lot to do with it. The same piece of music affects listeners differently based on listening tendencies, what they grew up rocking, and various attachments to the song. Perception is a powerful indicator for how sound will affect an individual. This is quite similar to how your experiences shape the unique wiring of your brain. So, if you don’t like folk music, there’s no shame in staying away from twangy ensembles.

Before you jump into how beats per minute (BPM) impact stress, there are other predictors to determine how a song may affect you—whether it’s funky or flat, good for studying, or a party anthem. Major tones are often associated with happy, predictable, poppy songs, while minor tones seem to be sad, more complex, and dissonant. This carries over to speech and vocals, too. As a fun experiment, search for your favorite upbeat song in minor on YouTube and hear the mood flip. Take on Me by A-Ha sounds like an unreleased act from Phantom of the Opera.

A song’s tempo has a lot to do with its potential stress-busting effects. Every piece of music is measured by beats per minute (BPM). Songs range from a very slow 35–45 BPM up to a heart-fluttering 200 BPM. For reference, the average popular song pulses around 116 BPM, and 120 is often considered the sweet spot for pop. You can find any song’s BPM through a quick online search, or through a free service like SongBPM.com.

Studies show listening to music you can’t stand is a recipe for disaster at any tempo. But listen to an artist or album you love, and you’ll experience the calming powers of sound. The slower a song, the more likely you are to experience deeper breathing, lower blood pressure, and a lower heart rate. Faster music has the opposite effect—pumping up your vitals and propelling you to move.

Speaking of music you love, set aside time this week to ignore your social feeds, close your eyes, and enjoy a deep listen of a favorite album. Purposeful listening lets you experience every track as the artist intended, and it’s a great way to add a meditative moment to your day.

Measurements for Every Occasion—Music to Relieve Stress or Pump You Up

The inextricable link between music and stress relief lets you use sound to create a productive rhythm for each part of your day. Whether preparing for a test, exercise circuit, or bedtime—all it takes is the right range of BPMs.

• Rise and shine. Many people have their favorite dance-worthy song set as their alarm—and they’re doing morning right. Aim for a bright and poppy tune, around the 120 BPM mark, to wake up on the right side of the bed every day.
• Sweat it out. Nothing starts the blood pumping like a custom workout playlist. Exercise routines vary in intensity and time, so curate a range of heavier, upbeat tracks that range between 120-160 BPM. More motion = more beats.
• Eco-commute. The average person walks at a convenient 120 steps per minute. Jamming music in this range will help you keep pace through hills and road bumps. Pedaling a bicycle calls for the same pace—unless you’re fighting the wind, which means upwards of 160–180 BPM.
• In the zone. Like musical tastes, finding the creative flow state varies from person to person. Instrumental music around 50–80 BPM is an ideal range for studying, working, or reading. Your brain falls into a productive rhythm in this range.
• Sauté success. Once again, the trusty 120 BPM is recommended for a perfectly paced dining experience—any faster and you’ll be rushing to chow down. The true key to pairing food with music is context. Find flavorful tracks to fit the mood of the meal.
• Breathe deep. Like the creative flow, mellow tunes around 50–80 BPMs can induce a meditative state. Find instrumental music that relaxes you. Clear your mind and focus on measured breathing to slow down your thoughts.
• Sweet dreams. Music around 60 BPM can induce alpha brainwaves—ideal for relaxation and sleep after listening for 45 minutes or so. Decompress with the right soundtracks to enjoy stress-free slumber.

More Stress-Relieving Solutions

Find harmony in stressful moments with both quick fixes and long-term solutions:

• Mindfulness through meditation provides fast relief.
• Stepping outside for even 20 minutes can trigger many beneficial physiological reactions.
• Expressing gratitude increases feelings of happiness to put problems in perspective.
• Exercise is one of the best ways to work out anxiety and temporarily lower blood pressure post-workout. Always bring your music library along for the circuit.

Healthy habits also play a significant role in how you feel, think, and perform:

• Start each day with a healthy breakfast for a positively productive morning.
• Consistent, quality sleep is deeply tied to your emotional state. Good sleep hygiene is crucial to minimize daily stress.
• Learning to play an instrument is challenging, but the brain benefits are incredible.
• Immersing yourself in any hobby helps to center the mind.

Some amount of stress can be productive, such as the nudge of anxiety prompting you to study for a concerto or attend band practice. But if you find yourself chronically stressed, consult with your trusted health-care provider and mental-health advocate.

More Than a Feeling

Life has its highs and lows, but no matter what happens, you can always turn to a favorite tune to brighten up the moment, finding stress relief through music. Spend time creating your own “stress less” playlist so you always have tracks to turn to for some extra feel-goods. You can even make collaborative playlists with friends, a true win-win—discovering awesome new music and maintaining social connections, which are key indicators of lifelong health.

So, next time you’re debating if those concert tickets are really worth the price, whether you can make the time to go, or if it’s worth the drive—whatever the excuse—now, you can justify it with science. Just make sure you pop in earplugs before you rock on.

Stress is a fact of life and so is cortisol—your constant companion during stressful situations. Cortisol is there for brief stressors, like when you wake up late and have to rush to work. And cortisol is with you when stress is more long term, like when you are dealing with a chronic illness.

There’s a lot to know about your body’s primary stress hormone. That’s because it does a lot more than make you feel overwhelmed. Check out this list of cortisol facts and see all that this hormone can do.

1. Cortisol is a Hormone that Travels in the Blood

Cortisol is a steroid hormone secreted into the blood as a response to stress. Anything stressful can make cortisol levels to rise. It can be commonplace, like stress at work or at home. Or it can be stress from physical treats like a car accident, a hard fall, or any encounter with danger. Elevated cortisol is part of your body’s natural reaction to these stressful situations.

It’s the main chemical messenger that can relay instructions or information from one part of the body to the other during times of stress. That’s probably why cortisol is often referred to as the “stress hormone.”

Usually cortisol levels peak when stress is high and returns to normal when stress subsides. Spikes in cortisol can help your body perform under pressure. But when cortisol concentration stays elevated for too long, some body functions can be negatively impacted.

2. Adrenal Glands Manufacture Cortisol

Sitting on top of each kidney are the triangle-shaped adrenal glands. Since kidneys filter blood, it’s an ideal place for producing this hormone. That way, cortisol has an easy path from the adrenal glands into the bloodstream.

Even though cortisol is made in the adrenal glands, they can’t release it into the bloodstream on their own. The adrenal glands wait for special instructions from the brain before they secrete cortisol into the body.

3. The Pituitary Gland Controls Cortisol Release

The adrenal glands’ commands come from a small, pea-sized region of the brain called the pituitary gland. From its location in the center of the brain—behind the eyes—it controls the release of many hormones in addition to cortisol.

The pituitary gland and hypothalamus work together to detect stress. To help you cope with a stressful situation, the pituitary gland can change the amount of cortisol circulating in your blood. And if levels rise or fall out of the normal range, the pituitary gland can adjust the amount of the hormone released by the adrenal glands.

4. Almost Every Kind of Cell in the Body Has Cortisol Receptors

Chemical messengers like cortisol can only act if their target cell has a receptor. That’s what allows them to bind and deliver the message. One reason such a wide range of cortisol function exists is because nearly every kind of cell has cortisol receptors. So, cortisol has the ability to effect change in most areas of the body.

5. Cortisol Promotes Energy Efficiency

Glucose is the compound your body needs to create cellular energy (ATP). Carbohydrates are easiest food for your body to pull glucose from. Fats and proteins are trickier and require more steps.

Under normal circumstances, your body stores fat and protein for energy reserves. When your body is stressed and needs as much energy as possible, cortisol steps in and helps turn fats and proteins into more easily usable glucose. In doing this, cortisol makes your body more fuel efficient by using fats and proteins from your diet for energy immediately.

The process of converting fats and proteins to glucose is called gluconeogenesis (gluco = glucose, neo = new, genesis = create). It’s an alternative pathway your body can use to make glucose from non-carbohydrates.

Gluconeogenesis increases the amount of available glucose when your body needs energy the most. By converting fats and proteins into sugar, your brain maintains a steady supply of glucose while still allocating enough energy to power your muscles, heart, and lungs.

Without cortisol, your body would burn its own muscle and fat tissue for energy. Instead, cortisol functions to protect your muscles and necessary body fat during periods of high stress.

6. Cortisol Can Contribute to Weight Gain

Many people turn to food when feeling bogged down by stress. This craving for fatty, sugary foods is actually the result of a prolonged increase in cortisol levels.

Elevated cortisol stimulates the release of extra insulin, which can cause your blood sugar to drop off. To bring blood sugar back up to the normal range you crave food with lots of carbs. This temporary fix with sugary food will bring your blood sugar back up, but it can also create a damaging habit.

When stress and cortisol increases last a long time, so is insulin and the craving for fattening foods. Over time, using sugary foods to balance blood sugar can lead to insulin resistance and weight gain.

Note that it is not cortisol itself that triggers weight gain. But the consequences of prolonged cortisol level elevation and the effects on insulin and blood sugar can lead you to pack on the pounds.

7. Immunity Can be Affected by Cortisol

To power your body through stressful times, cortisol slows down some body functions. Unfortunately, your immunity is one of those systems that is put on the backburner. So, it’s not surprising that studies have shown elevated cortisol levels temporarily suppress your immune system.

Cortisol does this by pulling resources from the cells that fight off germs. White-blood-cell production decreases, giving room for viruses and bacteria to take hold. Swelling (your body’s natural reaction to infection) also decreases during times of stress. That’s partly because cortisol puts the cells that promote swelling (B cells and helper T cells) in short supply.

When cortisol levels drop and your immune system comes back online, it’s got a lot of work to catch up on. Dormant viruses use periods of lowered immunity to infect the body. That’s why you might feel sick after prolonged stress.

8. Memory Trouble and Cortisol are Linked

It’s hard to think clearly when you’re stressed out. If you’ve ever been running behind and couldn’t find your shoes or your car keys, you know this to be true. Heightened cortisol levels can cast a haze over your memory and make it difficult to recollect important information.

Ironically, cortisol actually assists in memory formation. Which explains why some of your most frightening experiences remain vivid memories. But when it comes to recall skills (the kind you need for a test or to remember someone’s name) cortisol has the opposite effect.

Cortisol binds to receptors in the hippocampus and amygdala—the memory hub of your brain. A lot of cortisol circulating in the blood overwhelms your brain. And the flood of stress hormones makes recalling information difficult.

One scientific experiment showed that people can recall information better once cortisol levels start to go down. The findings of the study support the idea that trying to calm down when feeling stressed can improve your ability to remember information.

Taking deep breaths, stretching, meditating, and positive affirmations are all activities that can reduce cortisol and help you calm down. Try pausing for a minute to relax and breathe the next time you are feeling stressed. It could be the trick to helping you remember what you need.

9. High Cortisol Levels Negatively Impact Bone Growth

Cortisol diverts energy to muscles and the brain. But what part of the body take a hit? Bones are one. Their growth comes to a halt as a result of increase in the stress hormone. And while your bones don’t grow in length as an adult, they do rely on growth mechanisms to stay strong.

Bone-building cells called osteoblasts turn off when cortisol levels are high. Osteoblasts reinforce bones by depositing calcium and collagen into the skeletal structure. Without osteoblasts working during peak cortisol levels, their counterparts (osteoclasts) wreak havoc on bone tissue.

Osteoclasts reabsorb calcium from bones. Demineralizing bones makes them weaker and more prone to breakage. So, long periods of stress can eventually weaken bone tissue. That’s why it is so important to keep cortisol levels within a normal range—for the sake of your bones as well as the rest of your body.

How to Lower Cortisol Levels

Cortisol and stress go hand-in-hand. So, reducing the amount of stress in your life can ensure cortisol levels stay in a healthy range. And, generally speaking, less is more when it comes to cortisol.

Try some of these activities to keep cortisol in check the next time you’re feeling stressed:

• Prioritize exercise. This can be walking, swimming, gardening, or playing with your kids.
• Incorporate daily meditation. Take a few moments to tune out your stresses and tune into your body and mind.
• Focus on deep breathing. Full, deep breaths can reduce cortisol and help you calm down when you feel overwhelmed.
• Practice yoga. This form of stretching combines meditation and exercise, which adds up to relaxation.
• Find helpful distractions. Work on your favorite hobbies, serve someone in need, or complete a manageable task around your house. Being productive can turn your thoughts away from what is stressing you out.
• Get a restful night of sleep. Cortisol levels are cyclical. When you don’t sleep enough, cortisol stays elevated and can leave you feeling even more stressed.
• Eat a healthy meal. Fill your belly with a good meal made of whole, nutritious foods to fuel your body.
• Learn to say “no.” This one is hard. Don’t take on more responsibilities than you can handle. Avoid spreading yourself too thin and prioritize the most important tasks.

Laughter is a universal language. You learn to laugh at around 17 days of age—and continue to guffaw, chuckle, and giggle throughout your lifetime. And that’s a good thing because laughing as medicine may be more than a fun adage.

While it’s no substitute for modern medicine, evidence proves laughter is good for you. It also helps to share a laugh. It’s a great way to connect with others. Laughter can ease tense situations, help form friendships, and ultimately, just make you feel good.

Laughter vs. Humor

What’s funny and how you respond to it are two different things. Humor is anything that evokes a response to a story or an observation that shifts your normal expectations.

For example, the idea of a duck walking into a bar to order a drink is funny because you know ducks prefer ponds over pubs—and they don’t drink alcohol. The joke teller is trying to share a silly story to test your imagination and elicit a response.

Humor ranges from droll, deadpan, morbid, farcical, highbrow, sophomoric, silly, and ironic. Regardless of classification, your physical response to humor is laughter. It manifests verbally and through traditional gestures—like smiling, shoulder shrugging, and knee slapping.

The Mechanisms of Laughing

Let’s say you just heard a really funny joke. Instantly, the corners of your mouth go up to form a smile. You emit a series of “ha-ho-ha-hos” while slapping your knee. Your chest might hurt from laughing. It’s even possible you have tears running down your cheeks. And if it was a really, really good joke, you might even start to blackout.

Your body reacts the moment your brain processes something as funny. The zygomaticus major—the strong muscle that stretches across your cheek—contracts your mouth into a smile. The rest of your 20 facial muscles are stimulated into action, causing your eyes to shut and your cheeks to involuntarily move back and forth. Tear ducts are activated.

The sound of laughter comes from your respiratory system going into distress. The epiglottis—a leaf-shaped flap that prevents food from entering the windpipe—flutters, causing a partial closure of the larynx. And while you’re laughing, your lungs are not receiving enough oxygen. This can cause your face to flush, or in extreme circumstances, cause you to blackout.

It’s commonly believed the other physical indicators of laughter, like slapping your leg, titling your head back, or shaking your hands, are etiquette laughs. This behavior is a way to connect with a group by exaggerating your approval of the joke.

Laughing as Medicine—The Physical Benefits

It’s no joke that laughing can be good for your health. For starters, your immune system benefits from ample laughs in a day. People who laugh have an increase in T cells and natural killer cells (NK cells). These powerful members of the immune system help fight off invaders and keep you healthy. Laughter can also reduce stress and improve NK cell activity, thereby helping support your immunity.

Laughter is also good for your heart. Has your body ever felt sore after a good laugh? Researchers have discovered that intense laughter gives your body a short burst of aerobic exercise. A hard laugh can increase your heart rate, respiratory level, and oxygen consumption. While laughing isn’t a good substitute for regular exercise, a hearty chuckle does provide physical perks.

The benefits of laughter can extend to help your entire cardiovascular system. Blood vessels, like the arteries and veins that are primary to the circulatory system, are responsible for transporting blood throughout your body. They circulate blood to and from your heart. All blood vessels have an inner lining—the endothelium—allowing them to relax and expand, increasing blood flow.

Evidence exists that laughter helps your blood vessels function more effectively by engaging the endothelium. When you’re stressed or unhappy, your body may release adrenaline and noradrenalin—hormones that cause blood vessels to constrict. Laughter or happiness can limit the release of these hormones, lessening stress on your blood vessels and improving their structure.

And funny enough, laughing gas—nitric oxide—can be released into your bloodstream while you’re having a chuckle. Nitric oxide is produced throughout the human body. It’s a vasodilator, meaning it relaxes the endothelium, helping to widen the blood vessel. A good belly laugh releases beta-endorphins into your bloodstream. Because you’re feeling good from the endorphins, cells are triggered to release additional nitric oxide into your bloodstream, relaxing your blood pressure.

The physical benefits of laughter don’t end there. When it comes to pain tolerance, laughing as medicine is no joke. As you laugh, endorphins may be released into your bloodstream, giving you a calming feeling. Laughing also requires your body to take deeper breaths, which can help relax your muscles.

Laughing is also key to memory. Teachers who incorporate humor into their lectures create a less stressful learning environment. Students were more likely to remember key points from a lecture where the teacher interjected jokes about relevant topics. The findings suggest contextual humor can help you retain information.

As you age, if you associate humor with information, you’re more likely to transfer short-term memories into long-term memories. Seniors who engage in fun, light-hearted activities are more likely to remember what they’ve done.

Unstress and Build Connection with a Good Laugh

When something tickles your funny bone, your body rewards you with a rush of hormones: cortisol, epinephrine, and dopamine. Laughter can even naturally produce endorphins, feel-good hormones that help with pain.

Individuals who laugh 15 or more times a day can increase the number of antibodies in their system. A daily dose of giggles and smiles can help support your immune system while limiting the physical effects of stress.

Although anger, guilt, and grief aren’t usually associated with laughter, it’s quite effective when dealing with intense emotions. Even a small chuckle can help put situations into perspective and give you the opportunity to reshape your view of events. That’s because laughter provides a distraction from negative emotions. Psychologists believe humor is even valuable to lessen the effects of threatening situations.

The social benefits of laughter are endless. And they aren’t just reserved for the deep belly laugh. Simple acts of kindness or courtesy—including a heartfelt smile—can replicate the feelings of laughter. You can elevate the general mood of the people around you simply by laughing and smiling.

Laughter is characteristically contagious. Consider this: when you see two people sharing a laugh at a distance, there’s a good chance you will smile, too. Humans mirror each other. It starts in infancy with babies copying their parents’ behavior. As you create social bonds with others, it’s natural to draw upon past positive mannerisms and try to replicate them. Your body naturally smiles as a reaction to pleasurable experiences, so it’s normal for others—who aren’t even sharing the positive experience—to mimic a smile.

Scientists have suggested that laughter was a precursor to language. This theory is wrapped up in the social brain hypothesis. This popular notion says humans’ brains are larger than other animals because early humans lived in large groups. The brain developed into a larger organ due to the demand to remember other members of the group and the relationship between each individual.

This gave rise to the importance of socializing. Unable to vocalize emotion, early humans emitted short bursts of laughter to signify pleasure to other members of the group. As humans physically developed the ability to speak, laughter remained a way of communicating feelings of appreciation to other group members.

A Good Dose of Laughter

Exercise can help keep your body in motion. A healthy diet can give your body the right nutrients. And a good dose of laughter is excellent to keep your spirits up, improve mood, and naturally make you feel better. So, it’s important to maintain a healthy, humorous perspective on life.

That makes the answer to the original question ‘is laughing as medicine a ridiculous, joke-worthy concept?’ a resounding no. Even if it won’t replace modern medical practices, laughter can be part of your healthy lifestyle.

Everyone finds different things funny. But if you can increase the amount of laughter in your life, you’ll be better able to deal with stressful situations, increase creativity, support your health, and have a more positive outlook to take on your day.