Listening to sad music helps people come to terms with grief easier than ‘happy’ music, a new study has revealed.
The research, conducted by De Montfort University Leicester (DMU), showed that listening to sad songs by the likes of Radiohead or Muse helps those experiencing negative emotions - and could actually listeners cope with loss.
Dr Annemieke van den Tol led two separate studies, involving around 450 people, looking at the listening habits of people going through a range of emotions and circumstances.
Dr Van den Tol said: ‘Sadness often involves emotional loss, which is not a problem which can be solved or reversed. The only real way to move on and feel better is by accepting the situation and we found that people were able to do this by listening to sad music, but not so much by listening to happy music.
‘When we asked people about their sad music choices, participants were allowed to respond with regards to any sad songs or piece of music they believed to sound sad.’
The first study listeners to a Dutch radio station were asked to fill in an online questionnaire. This listed a set of statements, with participants scoring each from one to five based on how true it was.
The second study looked at why people chose to listen to sad music when feeling sad, asking them to recall such an occasion and show agreement with a string of reasons.
The research, conducted by De Montfort University Leicester (DMU), showed that listening to sad songs by the likes of Radiohead or Muse helps those experiencing negative emotions - and could actually listeners cope with loss.
Dr Annemieke van den Tol led two separate studies, involving around 450 people, looking at the listening habits of people going through a range of emotions and circumstances.
Dr Van den Tol said: ‘Sadness often involves emotional loss, which is not a problem which can be solved or reversed. The only real way to move on and feel better is by accepting the situation and we found that people were able to do this by listening to sad music, but not so much by listening to happy music.
‘When we asked people about their sad music choices, participants were allowed to respond with regards to any sad songs or piece of music they believed to sound sad.’
The first study listeners to a Dutch radio station were asked to fill in an online questionnaire. This listed a set of statements, with participants scoring each from one to five based on how true it was.
The second study looked at why people chose to listen to sad music when feeling sad, asking them to recall such an occasion and show agreement with a string of reasons.
