Going to See Live Music Makes Your Stress Levels Go Down

This is something you probably expected, but now it's proven to be true!

According to researchers, going to see a live music performance can reduce the levels of cortisol in a person. Cortisol is a hormone that is produced by the body when it is under physical or psychological stress. A little bit can be good for you, because it can make you more alert and improve your well-being, but elevated levels can be harmful to your health. 117 volunteers over in England, attending two different shows, had their saliva tested for cortisol and cortisone before and after seeing a live music performance. Not surprisingly, in the second sample, levels of this stress hormone were reduced across-the-board!

Lead researcher Daisy Fancourt says,

"This is the first preliminary evidence that attending a cultural event can have an impact on endocrine activity."

In addition, Daisy says that none of these changes had anything to do with a person's age, musical experience, or familiarity with the music being played. There seems to be some sort of universal response to going to a live show.

The only thing is, this study was done at concerts with relatively calm music. More research will need to be done for other genres, to see if concert-goers have a similar response.

What do you think? Are you more or less stressed when seeing a live concert? Let us know in the comments!

[Via Telegraph]