According to a new study coming out of Australia, the more time you spend in the pit the happier you will be.
Studiers at Victoria’s Deakin University surveyed 1,000 people and found that those who were attending communal music events were reporting higher levels of satisfaction with their overall life.
The report states that “engaging with music by dancing or attending musical events was associated with higher [subjective wellbeing] than for those who did not engage with music in these forms”.
Interestingly they found that it was important to have a communal aspect to music as listening to music in solitary did not have the same effect on “social wellbeing” and therefore doesn’t drastically alter your happiness.
“The findings also emphasised the important role of engaging with music in the company of others with regard to [subjective wellbeing], highlighting an interpersonal feature of music,” the report reads.
Part of this was singing with a group of people as the report found that that impacts greatly on your happiness while singing alone doesn’t make much of a difference.
“Any benefits to wellbeing associated with singing are restricted to those who sing in the company of others,” the report says.
“The insight gained from these findings can be used to inform future interventions and to better understand how music is involved in emotional regulation.”
So, if you’re buying a ticket to a music festival this summer you may also be buying yourself a smile.
