Music is an essential part of our lives that helps calm our minds and relax our bodies. Music can have both negative and positive effects depending on how we use it. Likewise, music has the ability to improve our studies and spoil our studies as well. The type of music you listen to and the amount of time you devote to it determines whether the effect of listening to music will be positive or negative. If you wonder whether music helps you study or not, you are at the right place. Continue reading further to learn more about the benefits and drawbacks of listening to music while studying.
Benefits of listening to music while studying
Many times you might have heard you should listen to music while studying. The advice would have come from the experts who belong to well-renowned universities and colleges. Even your teachers might have said or recommended listening to music to calm your mind while studying. Does that work? Do you feel good once you plug in the headphones while studying? The answer would be a yes for many and no for others.
Music produces a calming effect in your mind. While you are tense due to studies or completing a chapter, listening to your favourite music can calm your mind and help you concentrate further. The beats and music of your favourite song will lower your tension levels, which will help you study for longer periods. Does the benefit of listening to music while studying end here? Certainly, not!
Also Read: Today on World’s Music Day: Let’s Know What Does The Music Play In Students’ Lives
Given below are a few more benefits of listening to music while studying:
- The ‘Mozart effect’ is a scientific term to describe that music enhances your intelligence if you listen to music while studying. Though the effects of music are temporary, it can help boost your academic performance and score in the upcoming competitive exams, such as JEE or NEET. Popular theories have suggested that listening to Mozart makes you smarter. This theory reported a short improvement in children who listened to music for 15 minutes. The performance improved drastically, and the results were better than expected. Though Mozart doesn’t have a permanent effect on boosting the intellect of a human, it has proven effective in lowering stress levels within the human brain. Therefore, music can help you boost your score if you command your brain to listen to it timely.
- Who doesn’t like background music being played in the background of any task or even while studying? If your favourite music is played, you start grooving, or your brain gets active and starts humming the music simultaneously. Listening to your favourite background music can work wonders. It helps you improve your focus on a particular task or even while studying the hardest topic in a subject. The effect of background music is strong and motivational. If you need the support of someone, better let it be music. Your mood upliftment and improvement are directly proportional to the time you listen to music. The longer you hear your favourite background music, the longer you will be able to concentrate on the toughest task you are going to do.
- In major cases, many students have found music helps them learn and grasp the concepts easily. Music has a profound effect on helping to improve memorisation. Listening to your favourite soundtrack will positively affect your brain, which helps boost your memory formation. Thus, you indirectly learn and memorise better than others who do not listen to music. Research has shown that listening to soothing music can decrease blood pressure, anxiety levels, and heart rate in many students who live under stress due to exams and studies. The time has come that you now join hands with music to strengthen your focus levels and concentration with the help of music to beat the daily stress.
- Music will help you stay awake for longer hours if you want to study late or have an exam tomorrow. It is recommended to complete your syllabus before the exam day and have enough sleep to relax your mind to concentrate on the exam the next day. However, if you could not complete your syllabus and want some last moment motivation to study, let the music do it for you. If you are dazed, distracted, feeling sleepy, or even wanting to take a nap between your serious studies, listening to music can assist you in staying awake for a longer time. Moreover, music can put some good ideas and concepts in your brain to help you memorise the topics and concepts at the last moment.
- The distraction of several thoughts can take away your ability to concentrate on the toughest chapter you were preparing for the upcoming exam. Thus, listening to music is a must to focus more and put on some vital reasoning to solve a question. While you listen to music, it will help you focus on a particular numerical or reasoning-based question. There’s a possibility that you might be able to complete the particular question in a shorter amount of time than it was taking for you to complete it before. Sometimes, anxiety levels increase due to the inability to solve a particular question. The aftereffect of such conditions is that you cannot do the work at ease and have various mental and health issues. Hence, listening to music is a must to remove all these problems.
Drawbacks of listening to music while studying
Every good thing has a negative effect in some way or the other. In the same way, music also has a negative effect if you listen to it the wrong way or for more hours than you must do. The selection of songs is crucial as it can figure out whether you want to study under high pressure or lower it down to improve your performance.
Given below are a few drawbacks of listening to music that every student must know who has been listening to music or is going to adopt a new habit for the upcoming exams:
- Lyrics while listening to your music can spoil your mind. You might learn the lyrics more quickly than learning or memorising the actual concept or theory you have had to do. That can work negatively if you learn the lyrics more than grasping the concept to get good marks. You must know that listening to intense-lyrical music negatively affects your mind. If you are a fan of beats and lyrics, you might learn them faster than you were supposed to learn. It makes the tasks less efficient and reduces the absorbing power to grasp more information.
- Many students like loud music. However, listening to loud music can have adverse effects on the mind. Don’t you feel distracted after listening to pop or hard rock music? If yes, you must know that the music has already started to affect your mind negatively. If you still listen to them, you must stop it right away. Listening to loud and agitated music decreases your mental ability to focus on difficult tasks. If you were needed to solve a particular question in about 5 minutes, now it will take 15 or 20 minutes to solve that question, which is not good. You should have solved the problem within 5 minutes with the help of the right music.
- It’s said multitasking reduces the efficiency of the human brain. Though the theory differs from person to person, most brains have shown the positive aspects of this theory. Listening to music while studying or doing any work also comes under multitasking. Has it ever happened to you that you would have spoiled your food while cooking or have put salt instead of sugar or vice versa while listening to music? Or has it ever happened that your thoughts went somewhere else in between the problem you were solving in Maths or Physics? If yes, then that’s the drawback of listening to music. It would be best if you understood that the negative aspects of listening to music while studying have already started, and it will spoil your brain.
- Adopting a new habit at the last moment of your exam will lose your focus and harm your thinking abilities. At the last moment, you should not listen to music or start making a habit of doing so. Having a calm, relaxed and soothed mind will help you focus more and reduce the last moment pressure you have before your exam. Students should avoid listening to music while going to give their exams or having a walk before the exam. Let your mind be free and stay relaxed so that you can concentrate on the questions asked in the exam and write them efficiently to score more than your classmates.
- Emotions are subjected to change from person to person. The impact of emotions can be both positive and negative. Music can amplify emotions. Whether you listen to your favourite song or are about to hear a new song, it can positively affect your mind or make you tenser. Thus, if you will listen to music for the first time while preparing for an upcoming exam, then be careful. The right choice of music will lower your stress, and the wrong selection will increase the pressure. It is beneficial to understand the aftereffects of listening to music. You can test whether listening to music is working for you or not.
FAQs
1. What type of music helps while studying?
The choice of music is subject to change from student to student. Some students prefer listening to soft music without any lyrics, while some prefer listening to music with lyrics. If you can’t sleep well before the exam day, then listening to classical and soft music will help you calm your mind. It has been proven that listening to classical music reduces stress in insomniac students. Thus, they feel more relaxed and confident the next day they have their exams.
2. Is the effect of listening to music always negative?
The effect of music depends on how your brain responds to it. If the success rate of completing small tasks is good, you can continue listening to your favourite music while studying. If the effect is negative, you must drop the plan of listening to music after that. Do not let the habit continue if you feel it will positively affect you after some time. The habits of others might not work for you. So, understand the situation and analyse it beforehand before it’s too late.
3. Does listening to music improve memory?
Listening to music helps improve memory temporarily. However, it might not always be the case. If you listen to enjoyable, soft or Mozart music, your memory will improve from time to time. The effect can be temporary for many other students. You can train your brain so that it responds to your activities in a shorter time. If you have been listening to music for a long time and have already started to enhance your grasping skills, you can let it continue.
4. Can I listen to music while studying?
Yes, you can. But you have to make sure that you can concentrate on the task you are doing or the subject you are preparing. If your thoughts are getting interrupted or diverted now and then, you should stop listening to music. You must train your brain to take on new challenges and fight other diseases and emotions that create hurdles to your success. Regardless of what your senior or teacher says, you should test your brain and acknowledge what works best for you. Do not listen to what others have to say to boost preparation.
Conclusion
The music listening habit has been the talk of the town for a long time. Whether listening to music helps or spoils habits varies from student to student. You can test whether this habit is working for you or not. If yes, then let it continue. If not, you must drop the habit instantly and orient yourself to increase your focus and concentration before it’s too late. The right selection of music is also vital. Listen to it while studying if you like to hear calm, classical music. If you are going to listen to hard rock music with intense lyrics, then there’s a possibility that your brain will respond negatively to it. So, choose and adapt what suits them best. Please do not listen to others or adopt their habits as all the habits might not work for you.
