音乐如何让我们感到放松？

日本顺天堂大学（Juntendo University）的板尾健一（Kenichi Itao）教授的研究表明，音乐能帮助舒缓压力。研究过程中，三组受试者会分别听到日本流行音乐、古典音乐和疗愈纯音乐。过程中研究人员会测量受试者的心率、血流量和体温变化，并通过分析这些数据来判断音乐对压力的影响。

Research by Kenichi Itao, a professor at Juntendo University in Japan, has shown that music can help relieve stress. During the study, the three groups were exposed to Japanese pop music, classical music and pure healing music. Heart rate, blood flow and body temperature were measured and analyzed to determine the effects of music on stress.

研究人员发现，在聆听古典音乐时，受试者的低频心率和高频心率的比值下降了，同时体温和血流量有所上升。这些指标变化均说明受试者在聆听古典音乐时，压力水平明显下降。而另外两组中的日本流行音乐和疗愈纯音乐尽管作用并不如古典乐明显，但仍然使受试者更加放松了。

The researchers found that while listening to classical music, the ratio of the subjects' low frequency to high-frequency heart rates ratio dropped, while their body temperature and blood flow increased. All these changes indicated that the stress level of the subjects decreased significantly when listening to classical music. In the other two groups, Japanese pop and pure healing music, although not as effective as classical music, still made participants more relaxed.

在神经系统层面，音乐也对我们大脑中的多个区域有着明显的刺激作用，并借此影响我们的情绪。挪威卑尔根大学（University of Bergen）的Stefan Koelsch教授的研究表明，快乐的音乐和悲伤的音乐能激活我们大脑中的不同脑区。

On a neurological level, music also significantly stimulates multiple areas of our brain, which in turn affects our mood. Research by Professor Stefan Koelsch at the University of Bergen in Norway has shown that happy and sad music activates different brain regions in our brains.

此研究中，研究人员通过功能磁共振成像（fMRI）来检测聆听不同音乐时的脑区活动变化。研究发现，相比于愉快的音乐，不愉快的音乐会激活杏仁核、海马体、海马旁回和颞极的结构，而这些结构在先前就被认为与负面情绪相关。

In this study, the researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to detect changes in brain activity while listening to different music. The study found that, compared with pleasant music, unpleasant music activated structures in the amygdala, hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus, and temporal pole, which have previously been linked to negative emotions.

加拿大麦吉尔大学（McGill University）Anne J. Blood等人的研究则证明了愉快的音乐与积极情绪的相关性。研究人员通过正电子断层扫描检查不同脑区的血流，以此判断被激活的脑区。他们发现，愉快的音乐会引起人体的“战栗”反应，这种反应通常出现在人感到极度愉悦时。战栗的持续会引起腹侧纹状体、中脑、腹内侧前额叶皮层等结构的激活。此前研究表明这些结构的激活往往与食物和药物引起的极度兴奋相关。

Research by Anne J. Blood et al. at McGill University in Canada has demonstrated a correlation between pleasant music and positive emotions. The researchers examined blood flow in different brain regions using positron tomography to determine which brain regions were activated. They found that pleasant music elicits a "chill" response, usually associated with extreme happiness. The persistence of the tremor will cause the activation of the ventral striatum, midbrain, ventromedial prefrontal cortex and other structures. Previous studies have shown that activation of these structures is often associated with euphoria caused by food and drugs.