The best music to shift the winter blues, according to science
I asked my friend how he gets through breakups, and his answer was simple: sad music and allowing yourself to feel.
Turns out, the answer to seasonal depression is much the same. If Freddy Mercury decided to rise from the depths of the otherworld just to come and sing ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ on my balcony in February, I would no doubt consider showering him in canned tomatoes, but the answer to winter’s melancholy is written in science, and experts say that music is the perfect gateway.
“If you’re in a depressed mood and you put on something happy, it sounds like somebody else doesn’t trust you,” bestselling author Daniel Levitin told the Canadian Globe and Mail in 2022. As a professor of psychology and behavioural neuroscience at McGill University in Montreal, he saw that, “if you put on the right sad song, you think, ‘That person gets it. I’m no longer alone at the edge of the abyss’”, the comfort of feeling the sadness in music will rescue a meteoropathic mess from feeling like they’re alone in the cold, but simulate company, and stabilise their emotions by normalising them.
Seasonal affective disorder is a bit like going to a gig: it’s dark, the cooped-up indoor setting goes against our natural instincts, and light is so sporadic that it may shock you if it gets too close, so you might as well enjoy the music. It’s commonly believed that comforting music can literally trick the brain into feeling better, as music triggers the brain to release prolactin, a hormone produced in mothers who are nursing infants.
“It’s soothing and tranquillising,” said Levitin.
Music therapy is gaining traction in psychology, and therapist Jennifer Buchanan wrote a book on the subject titled Wellness, Wellplayed: The Power of a Playlist, telling Globe and Mail, “What we’re witnessing as therapists in a clinical setting is that certain music can resonate with the feelings of the client in the moment and also help them move closer to what they aspire to feel.”
More than inviting someone to feel less alone, listening to music will bring someone closer to clearing a hazy jumble of unidentifiable feelings. Buchanan also advised the consumption of stripped-back, acoustic music above songs that are rich in lyrics. Melodic, instrumental music “can ignite your brain into the spirit of imagination, where you can put your own stories into the music”.
Levitin explained that “there’s a distinct network in the brain that processes lyrics apart from the music… if you’re feeling overwhelmed and don’t want that part of your brain to be engaged, instrumental music bypasses all of that circuitry”.
However, there’s no denying the power of a beloved, invigorating feel-good album. “Faster and louder music is associated with physiological arousal, and an increase in heart rate can generally have a positive effect on our mood,” Sean Hutchins, director of research for the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, told Globe and Mail, adding, “Moving around a little bit more can be valuable in winter.”
The trick is finding a balance: no early career Wham! will fit the early February bill, but a bluesy album with just the right amount of thrill might be the perfect kick to get a feverish winter survivor warming up.
Far Out’s suggestions to slowly get you out the clouds:
- ‘Snow and Arcane’ – Auror
- ‘I wanted to leave’ – SYML
- ‘LOVE’ – Sofiane Pamart
- ‘Ala’ – Joep Beving
- ‘(Dream)’ – Salvia Plath
- ‘Inside Out’ – Duster
- ‘Esperanza’ – Hermanos Gutiérrez
- ‘Jacob and the Stone’ – Emile Mosseri
- ‘Divenire’ – Ludovico Einaudi
- ‘Floating’ – No Lyrics
