Remember the utopian haze of melody flowing through your headphones? It’s almost like drugs, maybe better—it has no harm. In fact, music is better than drugs for your mental health. According to research, music is as good as medicine. And it can better your immune system, reduce anxiety, regulate good moods, and can make you more productive.
While Productivity Music means different to different people. For instance, some people might like jazz, some prefer classic. But most of us are listening to lo-fi these days as our go-to productivity music—will cover that later. Regardless of the music choice, there is a lot of science on music and productivity.
Which suggests that music can improve your overall productivity and performance at the workplace. You just have to use it the right way to see the maximum potential—fortunately, we are going to cover that. But before, let’s see what science has to say.
Productivity Music and Science – Some Intersecting Studies
A recent study conducted on the effects of music on software developers. These professionals either listened to music or did not while working. Among the types of participants, those who had no music took the longest time to finish their tasks. While developers with music had mostly positive effects and their quality of work was improved as well.
Another survey of 2019 saw more than 50% of workers regularly listened to music at work. These people were found to be 90% more productive and precise with their work.
There are more similar studies that show the same outcome regarding productivity music. And everything has to do with one buzz word—dopamine. Because this chemical is released when we listen to music, we feel good and hence music helps us to focus better.
Productivity Music – Does Genre Matters?
So good news for music lovers on productivity music! But there are other things which we haven’t talked about yet. For instance, Does the type of music matters when listening for productivity? What about your groovy rock playlist? Well, there are conditions, and not every type of music works the same way. Let’s find out:
Condition #1
What if you hate rap songs, would that increase productivity? Most definitely not! Because the literature on this suggests that music helps if you only listen to your favorite kind of music.
A study conducted on university students establishes that students who listen to their favorite music were seen as more focused. Therefore, if you dislike rap songs, you should probably avoid them, especially while trying to do something.
Condition #2
What if you start jamming to the same old song which has become boring now because you have played it hundreds of times? Would that help? Same answer as above—most definitely not!
A similar kind of study was conducted. It shows a drop in performance while listening to “familiar vocal music.” Because listening to the familiar lyrics might be counterproductive because your brain might count it as multitasking. Therefore, Taylor Swift’s blank Space is not going to be helpful either. Sorry TS!
How to Use Music as Rocket Fuel for Productivity
So all these studies and hundreds of scientific research shows a very promising verdict—listening to the right kind of music, can increase productivity. Whether you plug your own headphones or your office already plays ambient noise, your performance would eventually increase. Here are some more benefits:
1. More Efficiency
You will work faster with fewer mistakes—not a bad deal right? Music produces dopamine in your brain which is responsible for reward and movement regulations. This in turn makes us feel good and optimistic. That is why music helps us in concentration while blocking outside distractions. This further helps us to work in a difficult environment with feel-good motivation.
2. Reduces Anxiety
Think about it, your favorite tunes can even reduce anxiety. Not just anxiety, music increases verbalization, improves self-esteem, and helps to build a stronger connection with your peers. So you might be feeling off or unmotivated to work because of personal issues. Music can even help with that.
3. Improves Memory
According to an online article, listening to music reactivates parts of the brain which are responsible for reasoning, memory, speech, and emotion. Therefore, listening to music can help with your studies, work, and overall day-to-day experiences.
What is the Best Music for Greater Productivity?
As you have already read above that not all kind of music works the same. Some genres simply work better, as productivity music. Therefore, let’s discover some of the best options out there.
1. Lo-fi to Chill
Have you come across the YouTube channel named as ChilledCow? They have hours and hours of online streaming of lo-fi music. Their playlist goes by the name like ‘beats to relax or study to’. These videos have millions of views and the channel itself has 7 million subscribers. And many people seem to relax at the mellow or just calm down their ever-expanding surroundings, but is it any good for doing productive work?
Well, the idea behind the lo-fi music is simple: it has no lyrics so you can’t sing with it. It is not too slow or fast which can affect your natural rhythm. And everything combined, it’s not too much to distract you either. Hence, A perfect recipe for tuning out your stress and working.
So when you are listening to the non-stop lo-fi online, you’re not adding much to your attention. The music is light enough that your brain predicts the next beats, the next beats are not much different than the previous ones. Therefore, you can easily focus on your work even when the music changes because the patterns are the same. But at the same time, you are also relaxing and chilling—and being productive. Pretty cool!
2. Other Type
There are other genres as well. For example, pop music, dance music, and classical music can work as well. These types of music can have different effects on your working efficiency and will not act the same. Besides, this type of music mostly has lyrics and can be too energetic sometimes. But whatever floats your boat right?
Lo-fi on the other hand can work wonders for most of the people out there. And this type of music also checks most of the study on productivity music. Therefore, it’s safe to say that lo-fi is an amazing choice for relaxing and performing something productive.
Conclusion
We pulled some of the best scientific literature and tried to make sense out of it. The sense that productivity music can be really good for effective working. While it’s debatable that these are not facts but studies. However, listening to ambiance like music that has no lyrics, will make you relax and be productive.