Many people like to turn on music with a photon while working or studying. According to statistics, about 85% of people whose employment allows them to listen to music while performing their professional duties constantly listen to music. Moreover, 42% of respondents have background music from morning to evening. Many people wonder how listening to music while working affects efficiency. In this article, we will tell you what kind of music is better to listen to while working, as well as how music helps you concentrate and increase energy.
How can music help you not be distracted?Scientists have proven that the human brain cannot concentrate on one task for a long time. In simple terms, each person has two systems of attention simultaneously.
- One is conscious, which allows us to purposefully focus on what we need.
- The second is the unconscious, which, regardless of our will, shifts the focus of attention to any potentially important stimulus that our senses register. For example, even if you focused on reading this article, the unconscious system will instantly respond to each pop-up notification.
There are several problems with this. The first of these is that the unconscious system works automatically and is always faster than the conscious one. This means that when a person hears a slight noise during work, he is likely to be distracted by it even before he understands why he is distracted.
The second problem is related to the fact that the longer a person tries to concentrate on a single task (especially if it does not arouse great interest), the less variety of stimuli the brain receives. Because of this, the unconscious attention system switches into a mode of increased intensity. Therefore, to distract a person, even small stimuli will be enough to lose concentration.
Background music in this situation can be a solution to the problem. Ideally, it should produce two effects at once: 1) non-invasive noise that loads the unconscious attention system with work so that it does not distract you in vain; 2) pleasant sensations that give a
positive emotional coloring to the work process. Let’s see which music best performs each of these tasks. Very often, some sites use music to increase user interest – for example, online bookmaker or casino sites, as well as women’s clothing stores and beauty salons. Surprisingly, it is background music that can help solve this problem. Ideally, it should give
two effects at once – have the function of non-invasive noise, which loads the unconscious attention system with work so that it does not distract a person; and deliver pleasant sensations that give a positive emotional coloring to the entire work process.
The following are examples of music that accomplishes each of these tasks:
Musical background for concentration
Many people like to play classical music in the background, but according to research, there
are more effective options for background music. These include:
White noise
This is a monotonous sound with an even distribution of high, medium, and low frequencies, in which all sounds are merged together and it is impossible to distinguish a certain rhythm. An example is the sound of a waterfall. Due to the wide coverage of audio frequencies, white noise masks well any acoustic stimuli. They simply “drown” in its flow.
Binaural beats
The idea of binaural beats is simple: listening to music at a certain frequency for a long time enters into resonance with the rhythms of the brain and tunes its electrical activity to the same frequency.
What music should not be included in the playlist for productivity
Scientists have found that in order to achieve the greatest productivity, it is important to never include music in the work playlist that has the following characteristics: does not have a clear rhythm, is very loud, with abrupt transitions, and is too fast. In addition, you should also not include those songs that you like or, conversely, do not like during work: the former will distract you from work with pleasant emotions, the latter with unpleasant ones.