What makes you really love a song?  Especially a sad one?  It usually hits us, it resonates, we relate, and it fits our mood at the time.  And maybe it makes us feel like we're not alone in going through all the stuff we're going through. Cool.

Now the not-so-great news.  Songs can strike a chord that's so deep they may actually have a negative impact on our long-term mental health.  And it's not just Stones songs.  It's any mood-altering music. Watch out.

There's a new study out that says listening habits have a long-term impact on the brain, and basically says sad songs can make us sadder than we actually are.

The Frontiers in Human Neuroscience journal published the study, and said "people with a penchant for sad or aggressive music may experience significantly higher anxiety or neuroticism than those who listen to happier types of music."

Interesting.  But neuroticism?  Maybe if we feel a smidge that way already we gravitate toward those songs and it's not necessarily the songs changing us? Which came first...the sad chicken or the sad egg, I spose.  Mmm hmm.

Oh, we love the sad songs and won't stop cranking them up and belting them out in the car and the shower and even at work in front of our co-workers. Besides, there's plenty of happy CCR, Joan Jett, and Bob Seger to balance it all out.

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