No doubt many of us are on the hunt for entertaining distractions these days, as COVID cases pick up, outdoor social engagements drop off, and threats of quarantine once again hang in the air. While movies and books may lure you in, for many of us there’s nothing better than the soothing and familiar sounds of our favorite music. Especially given other limitations in our lives right now, it’s important to remember the value of music not only as a pleasurable source of enjoyment but also for the benefit it brings to your brain.

On many levels, music has been shown to activate and engage the various neural networks in your brain necessary for good cognitive function. In a way similar to social engagement (which so many of us are lacking right now), music can help keep brain pathways strong, in addition to decreasing levels of stress. In fact, French scientists recently scanned the brains of people who described “musical chills” down their spine that they experienced when listening to particular pieces of music. You probably know the joyful sensation and the memories you recall, when you come upon a particular piece of music from your past. These scientists were able to look at the brains of study participants at the precise moment they experienced such sensations and found that it triggered the brain’s reward system and dopamine release at that moment. As we could all use a little “pleasure overload” right now, this study suggests music may be precisely the way to activate that pleasure response. Find out more by reading here and here.

And if you’re looking for that single piece of music that causes pleasure chills and brings you back to your younger years, take a look at this list of the most popular songs for each year from 1946-2019. Or take a look at this post from Consumer Reports on the best music streaming services available for your listening pleasure.

Finally, if you ever doubted the power of music to move even those among us who are cognitively impaired, then you need to see this recent viral video of an older impaired dancer upon hearing the sounds of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake.