Can Music Really Help You Become More Productive?
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It’s a long-debated topic, and one that is especially divided when it comes to children; does music really help with productivity? Half the argument says yes, the other half says it’s just an excuse to listen to music instead of getting work done. There is truth to both sides, but it’s actually a bit deeper than it seems. In this article, we look at whether or not studying with music is bad, if it can make you more productive, and the music you should be listening to in order to benefit from it.
Studying with Music: Good or Bad?
So, there have been numerous studies on this topic and, to make a long story short, they show that it really does depend on the kind of person you are. Some are going to find studying with music to be fantastic and really helpful, others are going to feel lost and distracted. The studies took place in controlled settings, with one of the most famous ones splitting students into a series of rooms that were one of the following: Silent Steady state speech Changing state speech Music they like Music they dislike Each of the students was completing homework in one of these environments, and those in the silent and steady state speech rooms did the best, while the other three did not perform as well. However, those who were listening to music they liked did not find it distracting and actually enjoyed doing their homework, so it is important to keep this in mind.
The Mozart Effect: is it Real?
You have likely heard of this before, where listening to Mozart from birth is supposed to make you more intelligent. Well, it’s wrong for one, but also completely misinterpreted. The study was looking at special-temporal reasoning as opposed to intelligence, and they did find a massive increase in these reasoning skills for around 15 minutes after the music was played. However, the media took this to mean that your child will become smarter with Mozart, and it got to the point that toys were being sold for it and hospitals in some countries were giving free Mozart CDs to mothers who had just given birth. If you want to get smarter through music, learn to play a classical instrument, that has actually been shown to increase your IQ by around three points.
The Best Music for Studying
If you decide to listen to music while you are studying, there is the option to play whatever you want, but there are actually some that you should consider trying out first. The following are best to help you to study and focus: Sounds of nature Classical music Songs you don’t care about Songs without lyrics Songs with an upbeat tempo All of these can be very beneficial, and while each person will find what works best for them, you should seriously consider trying these options out first. Baroque music has been shown to be some of the best according to studies, so why not start with that?
Hopefully, this has helped you to learn more about music and its impact on learning and productivity. While it is something that can vary massively depending on the kind of person you are, generally speaking, there is a lot of evidence to suggest that you can, in fact, benefit from listening to certain types of music while you work. If you want to learn more about their relationship, and even get some good song suggestions, we have a detailed and researched guide that you can read through.
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