“Life would be a mistake without music,” said the late philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. For the most part, we can all relate to this.

Music has played a major role in our most unforgettable life experiences, whether we were listening to sad music after a traumatic breakup or upbeat music on our graduation day. Aside from memories, music has an effect on our mental performance and ability to complete tasks. Here’s how music impacts your productivity and how to use it to your benefit, according to science.

If You Are Not in a Mood – Music Will Fix It

As you listen to music you want, the brain produces dopamine, a neurotransmitter that makes you feel good and helps you relax. 1

For example, researchers looked at the impact of music on patients who were about to undergo surgery in a meta-analysis of 400 studies published in the journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

Patients were given the option of listening to music or taking anti-anxiety medication, and the researchers monitored increases in cortisol levels.

man sitting in the city centre and playing music
source: pexels

The researchers found that patients who listened to music had less anxiety and lower cortisol levels than those who took anti-anxiety medications at the end of the trial.

Music has the potential to lift our spirits, which in turn will help us focus and concentrate on the job at hand.

Better Workouts With Music

While exercising, listening to inspiring music will help you avoid boredom and increase the quality of your workouts.

Music enhances physical fitness by increasing capacity to exercise longer and harder and delaying exhaustion, according to a study led by sports psychologist Karageorghis.

woman running and listening to music
photo credits: StockSnap

Music has helped me dramatically improve the strength, pace, and length of my workouts during my personal experiments.

It improves my mood on days when I don’t feel like exercising and has helped me maintain my five-day-a-week workout routine.

Introverts and Extrovert Impact

The impact of music on introverts and extraverts’ success on different cognitive tasks were investigated in a study published in the Applied Cognitive Psychology Journal.

During the study, ten introverts and extraverts were given two tests: an immediate and delayed recall memory test and a reading comprehension test.

woman sitting and enjoying silence
credists: pexels

The tests had to be completed while the participants were either listening to pop music or in silence.

The researchers found that playing music had a negative impact on immediate recall on the memory test for both groups at the end of the study.

Introverts who had memorized the objects, on the other hand, performed significantly worse in recall after a 6-minute period than extraverts in the same state. Furthermore, introverts who completed a reading comprehension challenge when music was playing did substantially worse than introverts.

Make Breaks Listen to Music

We already wrote a blog about why you should take breaks, but this is an additional moment here. Try listening to music in between.

Although listening to music while working can have negative consequences, listening to music in between tasks may improve your mental performance.

A study published in the Psychology of Music, for example, found that listening to music in between tasks can improve student academic performance and their ability to focus on a task for long periods of time.

If you want the best of all worlds, work in silence for a while and then take a break to listen to music before returning to work.

What Genre Should I Listen To?

This is a good question and there are a few thoughts about this topic.

Classical Music

Classical music has long been believed by researchers to help people perform tasks more efficiently. This theory, called “the Mozart Effect,” claims that listening to classical composers boosts brain activity and serves as a trigger for better health and happiness. Listening to classical music improves one’s ability to manipulate shapes and solve spatial puzzles, according to many reports.

One reason may be the lack of words in the music, as songs with lyrics have been found to be a distraction when attempting to concentrate. Classical music is also known for being soothing, stimulating, and stress-relieving. Students have been found to do 12 percent better on exams when listening to this type of music. Some pieces, such as Beethoven’s “Für Elise,” seem to aid students in studying longer and remembering more detail.

people playing classical music
source: pexels

Nature sounds and music

Nature sounds, such as crashing waves or a babbling brook, have been shown to improve cognitive performance and focus. Nature sounds that are calming, like running water or rainfall, work best, while more jarring noises, like bird calls and animal noises, can be distracting.

nature and sounds of nature
source: Frank Winkler

Natural sounds have been found to improve mood and concentration, according to researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Employees were more active and had more pleasant feelings when nature sounds played in the background as they worked, according to the report.

This may be due to the fact that natural sounds tended to obscure louder, more disruptive noises like people talking or typing. Researchers discovered that soothing nature sounds improved employees’ cognitive abilities as well as their performance on tasks.

Beats That Count

According to some studies, the tempo of music is more important than the style of music in helping you remain concentrated and efficient. Music with a beat rate of 50 to 80 beats per minute has been shown in studies to promote and stimulate creativity and learning.

Dr. Emma Gray, a cognitive behavioral consultant, collaborated with Spotify to investigate the health effects of different kinds of music. She discovered that music with a beat range of 50 to 80 takes the brain into an alpha state.

computer with music prepared
Source: The Glass Desk

When we’re awake, we’re usually in a state of mind called beta, which is characterized by heightened alertness and brain-wave activity between 14 and 30 hertz. We’re in a more comfortable alpha state of mind when our brain slows to between 7 and 14 HZ, which helps us to be more sensitive and responsive, and less critical. Scientists connect this state of mind with things involving our imagination, memory, and intuition, such as our “eureka moments.”

This is an alpha state induced by music. If you’ve ever listened to music you’re familiar with and found yourself lost in thought and not even enjoying the music, this is an alpha state induced by music. When you’re tuned in, you’re tuning out.