How Listening to Music Makes You More Productive
By James Hughes
Music is Life. I play it everyday.
For many people, music is a way of life.For me, it’s therapeutic escape from the harsh realities and the beautiful unknowns of modern-day living, an exercise in the expansion of consciousness and a million other things, depending upon how you think about it.It doesn’t necessarily take playing music to get the most out of it either, as listening can be just as powerful an experience. It’s not too far a stretch to believe that without music, many people would have a difficult time getting by.I would, anyway. Without music, my life would be a living hell.While the pleasurable effects of music are easily understandable, many people lose sight of the other benefits associated with playing and listening to music. Particularly viewed from a productivity standpoint, music can be a true asset to anyone who is looking to get things done faster, more efficiently, and with more focus.Given the way we consume media today, it’s also readily available at all times to anyone with an Internet connection.The 5 Scientific Benefits of Listening to Music
Listening to music can be an effective (not to mention enjoyable) way to boost productivity, but before delving into how and why you should start bringing headphones to work, let’s dive into some of the other benefits associated with having your favorite tunes playing on the speakers in the background.1. It Relieves You of Anxiety
Life is crazy.You really never know what’s going to happen next, because it just happens. And for some people, this causes a great deal of anxiety.Many embrace a number of counteractive methods to keep anxiety at bay … like taking medication, exercising, medication, eating, medication, therapy, and even some more medication.If you’re not exercising, eating, meditating, or in therapy, and you don’t want to go the medication rout, there’s another option.Music.Not everyone realizes that music is one of the most effective tools available for reducing anxiety. Close your eyes and focus on what you hear for even just a few minutes, and you’ll no doubt feel your body and mind begin to relax to the sounds around you.2. Music Helps You Make Stronger Connections with Groups and Other People
If you’re already a music fan, I bet you’ll agree that bringing up your favorite artists or bands in a conversation can be a great way to find common ground when meeting someone new.Taking this idea further, listening to music in a group setting can help everyone in the room not only feel more connected with each other, but also put them all in the state of mind and on the same level.There’s something unexplainable that happens when a large group of strangers moves in sync at a concert, for example, and the same concept can be applied at a micro level.3. It Drastically Improves Your Memory
It’s long been said that “music makes you smarter,” and there’s actually quite a bit of truth to this sentiment.Perhaps most important to realize is that music does indeed help to improve one’s memory. When you listen to and/or play music, your left and right brain work simultaneously, which serves to improve the ways in which memories are formed and retained.Singing is believed to improve the ways in which one processes information because of how it utilizes both the left and right brain at the same time, for example, but even a simple listening session can have beneficial effects.4. Listening to Music Reduces Your Muscle Tension
Along with anxiety comes muscle tension as one of the primary issues faced by business people, especially those who are stuck sitting at a desk for eight or more hours per day.Listening to music helps to reduce tension throughout the body, including the back and shoulders where it is so often felt by those who work office jobs.Even keeping something on in the background can be an effective way to destress and release tension.5. You Will Get a Higher Quality of Sleep
Sleep is one of the most essential elements of a productive day, yet it’s also more commonly neglected today than ever in the past.If you’re getting less than eight hours each night, chances are you’re feeling it.Research has shown that listening to classical music may be an effective way to improve the quality of one’s sleep, especially when done on a regular basis. The result is a more refreshed feeling each morning, and thus a more productive workday.Do You Want to Know How Music Effects Your Workplace Performance?
As one might expect, given the utility of music for improving one’s health, listening to music can also have beneficial effects on workplace performance.A notion such as this might seem loaded, but studies have shown it to be true.Teresa Lesiuk of the University of Windsor, Canada, published an important study in 2005, for example, which showed that listening to music helped to improve the efficiency in which one completes tasks and fosters the creation of better ideas.Much of this has to do with the release of a chemical called dopamine that typically occurs when one listens to music, which in turn makes them more happy than they might otherwise be.Think of it as being in-line with taking a bite out of a delicious sandwich, for example, or experiencing a first kiss with a new partner.Both of these scenarios result in an increased production of dopamine, which provides the individual with a sense of elation.While a number of different things occur within the brain as one listens to music during the workday, it’s important to focus on perhaps the most easily-felt of all — happiness.Most people can attest to feeling good during and after listening to their favorite music, even if the subject matter happens to be particularly dark or sad.The happiness that comes from turning on a favorite piece of music is quite noticeable when one pays close attention, and it can certainly help to make the day go more smoothly than it might otherwise.The benefits of incorporating music into the workday are many, with the following being just a few prime examples:If You Get Bored at Work, Music Will Ease Your Suffering
Boredom is a productivity-killer like no other, yet it’s difficult to avoid sometimes. When you’ve got music going in the background, however, the mind has something interesting to keep it occupied aside from what is being focused on work-wise. This helps to reduce boredom and increase one’s ability to properly tackle whatever task may be at hand.Increased Identity Marking
Your co-workers and where you work is it’s own little community not unlike any other, which means that the people who make up your team will no doubt crave the ability to mark their identity and inject a bit of personality into the workday.Many people decorate their offices or cubicles with personal artwork, (which is typically with pictures of the dogs or cats, family photos, or other ridiculous stuff that gives them self-worth, allows them to reflect on what they love, and gives them purpose … which can be a great way to reach this goal, but music can be even more effective and fosters the sharing of ideas and interests.This helps to empower employees, which in turn has a positive effect on productivity.Music Breeds and Inspires Effective Creativity
Anyone who has ever found themselves stumped on the job knows just how frustrating such an experience can be. When you’re trying to come up with a solution to a difficult issue, having creativity on your side is an absolute must.Listening to music helps to open up different avenues of the creative mind and promotes abstract thinking in ways that are otherwise difficult to match, all the while improving the amount of focus and attention one has to give to coming up with effective solutions.Less Stress
No matter what industry one is a part of, running into stress throughout the workday is always a possibility. Some let stress really get to them, which can interrupt even the most productive of days and come along with a host of other negative effects.Listening to music can be a great way to reduce stress and improve mental clarity, ensuring that even the most hectic days don’t get to you or your employees.Blocked-Out Distractions
Even in the most streamlined of workplaces, distractions can pop up from time to time. Getting things done can be easier said than done when things are in your periphery, which is just one more music to have background music going while you work.Music gives you something to focus heavily upon, letting distractions fade away and increasing your ability to get the job done.What is “Productive” Music?
There are a lot of people who might scoff at the motion that music increases productivity based upon their own personal experiences.After all, there are certain types of music that don’t foster better productivity in many people, some of which can even create distractions that are difficult to pull away from.Singer-songwriter music, for example, relies so heavily on lyrics to get the point across that it demands an amount of attention that most people can’t give when trying to tackle a project or important task.This is especially true for those who actually find themselves gravitating towards lyrically-heavy styles of music, as it’s tempting to sing along in such a case and just forget about everything else that’s happening in the periphery.So what exactly is “productive” music, then?Unfortunately, there’s no universal answer that applies to everyone.Each individual has their own set of criteria for music that makes them productive rather than distracts them. The music that sets one person into “work mode,” for example, might be utterly distracting (or even hard to listen to) for another.Sometimes, finding a particular style of music or artist/band that increases your own productivity can be a time-consuming process, especially if it’s not the kind of thing you’ve thought about in the past.All this said, there are a few common characteristics of certain musical stylings that lend themselves well to the workday, including the following:Allegro Tempo
Anyone who has ever studied or played classical music is likely well aware of how often the Latin language pops up in sheet music and documentation, often in the form of tempo markings.The term “allegro” may not get thrown around on a daily basis, but many people don’t realize that a good deal of the music they listen to falls into this tempo category.Tempo is typically measured in Beats Per Minute, or BPM, with allegro tempo settling in between 120 and 140 BPM. This is the perfect tempo for productive music, as it sets things into motion without being distractingly fast or slow.Credit: axeroDiscover more from NewsBreakers
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