Music Produces the Same Level of Pleasure as Sex, Drugs

Whip out your music apps, because your mind is about to be melted.

We all know a carefully curated sex playlist helps get us in the mood to get down, but there might be a lot more to music than we even imagined. Sure, we all love a good playlist -- but it turns out, your tunes actually have some wild effects.

As if we needed more reasons to love music, a new study has found music is much more powerful than a simple Spotify jam session. Music actually produces the same pleasure that we feel when having orgasms or doing (certain) drugs.

That old sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll mantra has officially been taken to new levels.

The McGill University study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, showed that when subjects listened to music, the same areas of the brain lit up as those when humans experience highly pleasurable things like sex, eating sugary foods, and doing drugs.

This happens because music works on the brain's "opioid system," the neurochemical pathway of the brain that releases pleasure-inducing chemicals like dopamine and serotonin. The same chemicals are produced when we take drugs like heroin, cocaine, and molly -- or when we get off sexually.

Lead researchers on the study say it's not totally unexpected. Music therapy has been used for many years, and the power of music has long been considered therapeutic to patients with serious chronic illnesses. Music will always be life… but it's nice to know it kind of gets you high, too.

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Gigi Engle is Thrillist's Sex and Dating staff writer and is all about dem grooves. Follow her lovable crazy on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram @GigiEngle.