Music helped people get through the pandemic with lower stress levels

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2023-01-11 03:00

International

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Music helped people manage their stress during the most severe part of the pandemic, according to an international survey. The researchers followed the music listening habits of hundreds of people in Europe in mid 2020, who self-reported how much music they were listening to and how stressed they felt over the period of a week. The researchers say listening to music was associated with less stress at the time of listening and improved overall mood, and those suffering from chronic stress were able to improve their mood by listening to music. The researchers say we can learn from this and use music, especially 'happy music', to help us through other stressful periods of our lives.

Media release

From: JAMA

About The Study: Listening to music in daily life was significantly associated with lower levels of stress during the COVID-19 lockdown period in this study of 711 adults. Music listening was also significantly associated with improved mood, particularly for those with elevated chronic stress during the pandemic.

Authors: Anja C. Feneberg, Ph.D., and Urs M. Nater, Ph.D., of the University of Vienna, are the corresponding authors.

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Research JAMA, Web page The URL will go live after the embargo ends

Journal/
conference: JAMA Network Open

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: University of Vienna, Austria

Funder: The study project was funded by a COVID-19 Rapid Response grant from the University of Vienna (Dr Lamm), the Austrian Science Fund (FWF, I3381; Dr Lamm), and the University Research Platform “The Stress of Life (SOLE)—Processes and Mechanisms Underlying Everyday Life Stress.”

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