Whether it's Mozart, Joni Mitchell, Adele or newcomers like Frank Ocean, music is powerful and has existed in all cultures throughout history. But why do humans find music so addictive and pleasurable? At its core, music is the combination of audio frequencies and intricate patterns, floating through the air and clashing together in your ear. Much like your eyes process light, your ears process waves of sound and trigger a state of excitement and sometimes pleasure in your brain.
不管是莫扎特，Joni Mitchell，Adele或是向Frank Ocean一樣的新人，音樂的力量很強並長久存在於所有的歷史文化之中。但為何人們覺得音樂那麼有吸引力又令人快樂？音樂的核心，是聲音頻率和精密型態的結合，從空氣中飄來並在你的耳朵中碰撞作聲。就像是眼睛處理光線一樣，耳朵會處理音波，並在腦中產生一種時而刺激，時而愉悅的狀態。
Humans experience pleasure from many stimulants such as food, sex and drugs. But because many of these stimulants are necessary for human survival, the body has created a system in which it rewards you for achieving them. What's really happening is a release of a neurotransmitter in the brain called dopamine. Dopamine is a chemical responsible for making you feel good. When dopamine is released following a reward such as a delicious meal or winning the lottery, the neurotransmitter causes a feeling of pleasure and satisfaction. Drugs, such as cocaine, take advantage of this pathway by increasing the amount of dopamine, or rather, preventing its removal, causing continual stimulation of your neurons, which creates intense moments of pleasure.
人們從很多刺激物中感受到滿足，諸如食物、性和藥物。但因為很多刺激物是人類生存不可或缺的，身體創造出一個只要你完成就有回饋的系統。實際上發生的是大腦釋出一個叫做多巴胺的神經傳遞介質。多巴胺是種會讓你感覺良好的化學成分。當多巴胺在接收到諸如一頓美味的大餐或贏得樂透之類的獎勵之後被釋放出來，神經傳遞介質引起一個快樂和滿足的感覺。藥物，像是古柯鹼，藉由增量多巴胺來利用這管道，或甚至，阻礙它被排出，造成對神經細胞連續不斷的刺激，產生強烈的快感時光。
Music has the ability to create a state of arousal, causing pupils to dilate, blood pressure to rise, and the brain to fire in auditory, movement and emotional regions. And even though music does not have a direct survival benefit, this emotional reaction causes a release of the feel good chemical dopamine. Though the exact evolutionary reasoning is unclear, the amazing fact remains, music chemically alters our body and makes us feel great. And in the same way that a drug induced dopamine surge leaves you craving more, music becomes addictive. The dopamine tells your body it was rewarded and creates the desire to seek out more. Even though music enjoyment is entirely subjective and intertwined with cultural and personal experience, the chemical effects remain consistent amongst the human race, a perfectly natural drug of happiness.
音樂有創造出一種激動狀態的能力，使瞳孔擴張，血壓上升，並激發腦部在聽覺、運動以及情感等領域的能力。而且即使音樂沒有直接、生存所需的好處，這樣的情感反應讓身體釋出令人感覺良好的化學多巴胺。即便真正的發展原因不明，這驚人的事實仍然存在，音樂讓我們的身體產生化學變化又使我們感覺很棒。跟藥物引起的多巴胺激增讓你更渴望是一樣的道理，音樂令人上癮。多巴胺告知身體收到獎勵並創造出尋求更多的慾望。即使音樂享受是完全主觀的而且和文化以及個人經驗糾結在一起，它那化學反應在人類之中保持一致，一種完全天然的快樂良藥。
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