Still Listen To The Same Music That You Enjoyed As A Teen? We Have Good News For Your Brain

I had a startling discovery at the weekend: my favourite music from my teen years is categorised on Spotify as ’2000′s Dad Rock’. Ouch.

I am in my mid-thirties so, this shouldn’t be a surprise, but when I listen to my old faves, I don’t think of them as classic rock but instead of a sense of home.

While that may sound a little cheesy (I did say dad rock, what did you expect), apparently, turning to your teen tunes for comfort is actually incredibly common and even better, good for your brain.

Knew it. 

How your favourite nostalgic music is helping your brain

Yes, there really is science behind you listening to The Black Parade every day since 2006.

According to Nikki Roy, a therapist based in California, researchers are actually finding that the music we listen to as teenagers binds to our brains differently to anything we’re going to hear as adults in a phenomena known as ‘neural nostalgia.’

Personally, this makes sense to me. I’m still a music lover, I go to around 25 concerts a year and I listen to music at every single opportunity but the relationship I have with music has changed a lot from my teen years. Back then, it really was a lifeline and had a deep stronghold on me. Now? I think I still rely heavily on it but not quite as intensely as I did back then.

I miss the romance of it all tbh.

Roy went on to say that ‘one of the best coping methods’ that she recommends and even still does herself is listening to those old songs, or, as she put it, ‘bangers’.

She said: “Like punk rock, Pitbull, whatever, listen to that because it actually helps.”

Roy explained that it helps us to get out of our heads and ‘connect to ourselves, it makes us feel alive again.’

Brb, making a playlist of certified 2000s bangers.