Roger Sterling
JF-Expert Member
- May 10, 2015
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The Music You Love Tells Me Who You Are
Ever been a bit judgey when you hear someones taste in music? Of course you have.
And you were right music tells you a lot about someones personality.
Research has learned a great deal about the power of music.
- Your musical taste does accurately tell me about you, including your politics.
- Your musical taste is influenced by your parents.
- You love your favorite song because its associated with an intense emotional experience in your life.
- The music you enjoyed when you were 20 you will probably love for the rest of your life.
- And, yes, rockstars really do live fast and die young.
But enough trivia. It also turns out music affects your behavior and much more than you might think.
Studies show music can lead you to drink more, spendmore, be kind, or even act unethically.
No, rock and heavy metal dont lead people to commit suicide but its possible that country music might:
The results of a multiple regression analysis of 49 metropolitan areas show that the greater the airtime devoted to country music, the greater the white suicide rate.
Music is so powerful its even possible to become addicted to music.
But can we really use scientific research on music to improve our lives? Absolutely.
Here are 9 ways:
1) Music Helps You Relax
Yes, research shows music is relaxing.
I know, I know, obvious, right? But what you might not know is the type of music that helps people relax best.
Need to chill out? Skip the pop and jazz and head for the classical.
Via Richard Wisemans excellent book 59 Seconds: Change Your Life in Under a Minute:
Blood pressure readings revealed that listening to pop or jazz music had the same restorative effect as total silence. In contrast, those who listened to Pachelbel and Vivaldi relaxed much more quickly, and so their blood pressure dropped back to the normal level in far less time.
(More things that relieve stress are here.)
2) Angry Music Improves Your Performance
We usually think of anger as something thats just universally bad. But the emotion has positive uses too.
Anger focuses attention on rewards, increases persistence, makes us feel in control and more optimistic about achieving our goals.
When test subjects listened to angry music while playing video games, they got higher scores.
Via The Science of Sin: The Psychology of the Seven Deadlies (and Why They Are So Good For You):
What Tamir and her colleagues found was that people preferred to listen to the angry music before playing Soldier of Fortune.
Faced with a task in which anger might serve a useful function, facilitating the shooting of enemies, participants opted for an anger boost. Whats more, listening to the angry music actually improved performance
(More on how to boost productivity here.)
3) Music Reduces Pain
When ibuprofen isnt doing the job, might be time to put on your favorite song.
Research shows it can reduce pain:
Preferred music was found to significantly increase tolerance and perceived control over the painful stimulus and to decrease anxiety compared with both the visual distraction and silence conditions.
(More research based tricks for reducing pain here.)
4) Music Can Give You A Better Workout
Whats the best thing to have on your iPod at the gym?
The weight room is no place to try new genres. Playing your favorites can boost performance:
The performance under Preferred Music (9.8 +/- 4.6 km) was greater than under Nonpreferred Music (7.1 +/- 3.5 km) conditions.
Therefore, listening to Preferred Music during continuous cycling exercise at high intensity can increase the exercise distance, and individuals listening to Nonpreferred Music can perceive more discomfort caused by the exercise.
(More ways to improve your health here.)
5) Music Can Help You Find Love
Want to get the interest of that special someone? Put on the romantic music.
Women were more likely to give their number to men after hearing love songs:
the male confederate asked the participant for her phone number. It was found that women previously exposed to romantic lyrics complied with the request more readily than women exposed to the neutral ones.
More on how science can make you a better kisser here.)
6) Music Can Save A Life
Do you know the proper way to give CPR chest compressions? Turns out timing is key.
And how can you best remember that timing during an emergency?
Sing Stayin Alive by the BeeGees. Yes, Im serious:
Dr. John Hafner of the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Peoria had 15 physicians and med students perform the 100-compression procedure (on mannequins) while listening to the Bee Gees classic Stayin Alive. As Hafner reports in the Journal of Emergency Medicine,
their mean compression rate was an excellent 109.1. Five weeks later, they repeated the exercise while singing the song to themselves as a musical memory aid. Their mean rate increased to 113.2.
The medical professionals reported that the mental metronome improved both their technical ability and confidence in providing CPR.
What The Music You Love Says About You And How It Can Improve Your Life - TIME
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