Image Source: Pixabay

If you find yourself feeling sluggish or stressed at work and are worried about missing deadlines, the solution might lie right within that pair of headphones by your desk. Listening to music can help to increase your productivity, put you into a mindset of creativity, and boost your mood. It also has many valuable health benefits, too. If you’re not yet listening to music at work, it might be time to create a productivity playlist and get started. 

How Music Increases Productivity

While music can have a significant impact on our emotions, it can increase our productivity in the workplace, too. A study of IT specialists found that the specialists who listened to music during work experienced an improved mood and finished their tasks faster than the specialists who didn’t listen to music. Those who listened to music also came up with better ideas than those who didn’t. 

The fact that listening to music can improve a worker’s mood has additional benefits in the workplace. According to Teresa Lesiuk, associate professor of music education and music therapy at the University of Miami, when people listen to the type of music that they enjoy, they usually have positive experiences as a result. While listening to music, people experience positive moods and during that time they tend to stay open to more options. This means that workers in that positive mood are more creative, are better problem solvers, and are better able to think outside the box. 

While music certainly offers some productivity benefits in the workplace, it needs to be the right type of music in order to be effective. Music that’s dissonant or that has an extreme tempo can be more distracting than helpful. Lesiuk also noted that music most increased productivity in people who were moderately good at their jobs, whereas people who were already experts in their work experienced improved moods but didn’t experience the same increased productivity. 

How Music Makes You Healthier

Music is known to have many effects on health, and we continue to explore and expand the ways that music can be used to make people healthier. Medical professionals have been using music for centuries in order to calm patients, and in World War I, medical professionals relied on music to help soldiers better cope with the trauma of war. Today, music therapy helps people to recover from injuries, cope with emotional trauma, and more. 

A 2008 study found that music can aid in stroke recovery. Sixty patients enrolled in the study received standard stroke care, and a third of those patients listened to recorded music of their choosing every day. By the end of the three-month study period, the group who listened to music had improved their verbal memory by 60%, while the patients who didn’t listen to music only experienced a 29% verbal memory improvement. A group of patients who listened to audiobooks improved their verbal memory by just 18% during the study. 

Anyone can benefit from the impact of music on your health. Music can affect your blood pressure, has been known to aid in pain relief, and can help to ease anxiety. Incorporating music into your daily life is easy to do and offers countless health benefits. 

How to Use Music for Your Productivity and Health

You can easily and affordably use music to both increase your productivity and improve your health. In the workplace, invest in a pair of comfortable headphones that you can pair with your phone or your computer. Create a workplace soundtrack of music that you enjoy. If you don’t have time to create your own playlist, consider using an existing playlist designed specifically to help with your productivity. 

When playing music at work, keep the volume low enough so that you aren’t disturbing others and so that you can still hear surrounding noise, such as if a coworker needs to talk to you or if the phone rings. If you find the music distracting, turn it down or opt for an instrumental piece without lyrics to help you focus. When you’re at home and need to get energized, choose songs with a faster tempo and don’t be afraid to turn up the volume a little bit.

Consider learning to play an instrument for improved health benefits. While this isn’t a strategy you can use at work, playing an instrument offers many benefits, such as reduced stress, improved breath support (for those wind instruments), and even a stronger immune system. You can learn to play an instrument at any age and a music teacher can help you to find a good, used instrument at a minimal cost. Your community may even offer group instrument lessons, making this new hobby even more affordable. 

By making an effort to incorporate music into your life, both at your job and outside of work, you can enjoy increased productivity and important health benefits. With the availability of the radio, streaming services like Pandora, and even mixes on YouTube, it doesn’t cost a thing to listen to music, so you can add as much music into your life as you’d like.

Please follow and like us: