One of the issues with working from home, is staying focused. Its easy to be distracted at home, with family, chores, Netflix, the nice weather, and making yourself buckle down to focus can be a challenge. Music, and its effect on our mood, is a very familiar phenomenon. Listening to upbeat music, soothing playlists, or even white noise, can work wonders for getting your mood up or calmed down. Classical music, for those of us wanting to maximise our work time at home, can be a big help.
Benefits of Classical Music
Most of us might be familiar with the ‘Mozart effect’, that is, playing Mozart for babies and children to improve intelligence. Now, it’s unlikely that listening to Mozart will make you smarter, but studies have shown that listening to his music temporary increases the brains spatial-temporal reasoning.
Even so, there are some notable effects it has on our mind and bodies.
- Sleep. Listening to classical music, with its low pitches, tranquil melodies and regularity, improves your sleep better than any other genre.
- Memory. In a study in which classical music was played for students, they discovered that the students who listened to the music whilst attending a lecture were more receptive to the information. If your struggling with all those Zoom meetings, throw on some Beethoven in the background to help you absorb and recollect the information being given to you.
- Mental Health. Some scientists claim that the tempo is similar to the human heartbeat, and many studies have shown that listening to classical music can reduce feelings of stress, anxiety and depression.
- Productivity. Repetitive tasks can be difficult to boost motivation for. Studies have shown that listening to classical music improves productivity, making these tasks more enjoyable.
Listening to the classics can give you the calm, productive mind space you need to get through that pile of work you have at home.
Music has always been a matter of Energy to me, a question of Fuel.” – Hunter S. Thompson
Best classical music
Which classical music is the best to listen to? There are plenty of classical playlists out there, from the introductory to the specific. Spotify has enough classical playlists to suit everyone, including essentials, calming, modern and movie soundtracks.
In studies, the most commonly found example of classical music played are
- Baroque
- Mozart
- Bach
- Brahms
- Debussy
- Vivaldi
Avoid the grander orchestral pieces in favour for the calmer scores – think gentle piano and violin. And if the old school stuff isn’t for you, try some modern composers such as Hans Zimmer, Max Richter or Philip Glass. These modern composers are changing the world of classical music, so there is surely something for everyone.
Scepticism surrounding the effects of this genre on our cognitive functions still exists. But we understand the effect that any music has on us, so why not play some Mozart while you work? It can hardly hurt.
