The Best Music To Listen To While Studying

Multiple studies have found that when listening to certain types of music while studying, you tend to concentrate more and absorb more information. Of course, Everyone is different. I can listen to Party In The USA while studying and retain information just fine(not really), while someone else would never be able to concentrate to that song. But for the overwhelming majority of students, you have to play the "right" type of music in order to get the advantages that come along with listening to music while studying.

Not only are you benefiting from listening to music while studying, researchers have also found that there are great benefits to listening to music before studying or performing a task. These benefits include improving memory, attention and even mental math ability. It can also ease anxiety and depression. With school already back in session there is no doubt that many of us will need to take advantage of these benefits.

Classical Music

Classical music is very peaceful and harmonious, which has been proven to lift your mood and enhance your productivity. To be honest, who actually likes studying? Most of us do it simply because we don't want to fail not because it's a hobby. So not only will Mozart help you concentrate, he will also put you in a good mood while you study!

Classical music is also known to have a calming effect on people. If you're ever anxious about taking a test or you're having trouble focusing, just put on some classical music and you'll soon feel at ease and ready to take on those tasks!

Music Without Lyrics

It's always better to listen to music without lyrics while studying for subjects that requires you to use the language part of your brain. This is because if you're trying to write an essay for example, your thoughts would get all mumbled with the lyrics of the music which is obviously very distracting. I stopped listening to songs with lyrics while studying for this very reason before i even knew it was an actual scientific fact, because i seriously could not concentrate. And also because i would always end up singing along to whatever song was playing. I would often catch myself singing along (more like yelling along) to "Don't Stop Believing" before realizing that I'm suppose to be studying!

Believe it or not, but your brain will actually shift your focus away from what you're doing and pay attention to the words of the music to determine if someone is speaking to you or not. That's kind of weird but it's true! Unless you're doing math, because you're dealing with numbers and not words, listening to lyrical songs will decrease your attention and performance on your tasks. 

Nature Sounds

You know how you just love when it's raining because you can just get yourself a cuppa tea, grab a blanket along with your laptop and get so much stuff done than any other time? Well that's probably because of the relaxing sound of rain! Nature sounds are very relaxing, which is probably why they're so widely used for meditation. Natural sounds such as ocean waves, mountain streams, and falling rain will increase your ability to concentrate and focus on your task. It's also a great way to mask noise if you're trying to study in a noisy environment.

There is a website i really like called Noisli which mixes relaxing nature sounds (wind, seaside, night, water stream, leaves, rain), color generators (pink, white, and brown) and my personal favorite, everyday sounds such as coffee shops, fireplace, and trains. 

Modern Electronic aka Chill out Music

This type of music includes genres from New Age, Ambient Trance and Trip Hop. These sounds are very soothing which will help you relax your mind and enhance your creativity. 

If you want to get your creative juices going, check out Music For Airports by Brian Eno.

Instrumental Ambient Sounds

If you really want to play some music while studying but you're not really into the classics, that's okay! The Ambient sound brings you the relaxing sounds of musical instruments along with with modern tunes so you don't have to choose one or the other. You're still getting great music and being super productive! You can have the best of both words! And yes, i just referenced Hannah Montana.

Timed Tempos

Researchers found that music with tempos timed at 60 beats per minute in a repetitive pattern can put your mind at easy and help you concentrate. When you're picking songs, choose ones with repetitive tempos such as the one below, to help you be more productive.

Low Volume 

The whole point of having music while studying is to have something playing in the background so you're not in total silence. But if your music is as loud as it would be if you were listening to music any other time, then you're not doing yourself any good. Sometimes i can accurately guess what song someone is listening to even when they have their earphones in. This is how you know that your music is way too loud. 

When you're studying with music on, you're barely suppose to notice that something is playing in the background or else it's just a distraction. Your brain would want to focus more on the loud sound rather than what you're working on, and that's just because the music is very noticeable. 

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