What are the benefits of studying with music?

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Currently, there is an increasing trend among students: listening to music when making summaries or studying for an exam

First of all, we can say that not all people can study while listening to music. This happens, mainly, because there are different pedagogical methodologies that adapt to some or other types of people, so you should find the one that is most appropriate for you.

Leer en español: ¿Cuáles son los beneficios de estudiar con música?

However, here we collect some information that will help you understand the benefits of studying while listening to music, and we incorporate some tips so you can assimilate both experiences simultaneously.

Is it useful to listen to music while studying?

To analyze it, let the specialists take the word. We picked up a testimony from a professor at Stanford University who published an interesting study on Taylor & Francis Online.

There is something interesting to say: music that contains lyrics can achieve a distracting effect when retaining concepts in memory. Because of this, it may not be very useful if you want to learn specific terms, although it could help you to highlight texts or to make a first reading.

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The key, according to the study, is to analyze the sensation that music gives us. If we perceive it as something relaxing, positive consequences may be noted at the time of the study. Think about it: you mix something that can be stressful (like studying) with a task that we usually dedicate to leisure and enjoyment, such as music.

Therefore, you will feel less overwhelmed and tired of studying, since you will be having fun -it is paradoxical- at the same time that you will fulfill your obligations.

What type of music is convenient to listen to while studying?

The question of musical tastes, in these cases, is completely subjective and will depend on what you like.

Anyway, the experts of the study of Taylor & Francis recommend that, at first, we choose music without lyrics that we find satisfactory. It can be, for example, the soundtrack of a movie that interests us or a relaxing environmental sound. All this, conveniently, with headphones, since it will not distract you from external sounds that could affect your experience.

This will allow you to, little by little,  incorporate sound to your study habits. Even if you do not believe it, this is not impossible to do: it's just a matter of adaptation.

Once you feel comfortable doing both tasks simultaneously, you can proceed to listen to bands or artists that you like (even with lyrics!). This is because your brain will already know that, at the time of studying, the priority is your concentration. Therefore, music is left in the background, which will act as a relaxing or buffering to your stressful situation. One of the primordial genres for this activity, then, is that of classical music.

What are the advantages of listening to music when I study?

At first, imagine this situation: you are about to join the university, but you are a fan of music. Well, we know that college life can be a bit hard, since times for leisure are incredibly reduced.

Therefore, it is likely that you have less space than ever to listen to your favorite artists, while you will have to dedicate a number of hours per day to the study of the different subjects of your major.

So, why not combine both activities? Studying while listening to music will serve as a self-deception of the main situation you are facing. This is because you will not feel stress or boredom, but time will flow in a much more enjoyable way, without great mental waste. In turn, as we have already mentioned, it will isolate you from noisy spaces or conflicting environments.

And, if you want technical details, we collected information from Universia, where it is said that music activates two main lobes.

The first is the frontal lobe, which improves concentration, thanks to the perceived sound harmony, hence the fundamental thing that it may be not to listen to a very saturated genre or with frenetic rhythms.

The second is the temporal lobe, which will improve your ability to apply the language to different concepts (something especially useful if you want to study languages!).

From our experience, we highly recommend combining both tasks. It has great results!

LatinAmerican Post | Ariel Cipolla

Translated from "¿Cuáles son los beneficios de estudiar con música?"