What is the most important thing I need at work to be productive :
- Coffee/Tea - yeah but I can go without it
- Breaks - I definitely need them but I can still manage
- Distance from irritating people - hmm but I can go on with them.
I can be productive without all these things but damned me if I forget my "Headphones". Nothing reduces my work power than showing up in office without them.
Like most I love music while I work . I work while listening to all different genres be it jazz, reggae, hip hop, even country music. Its like a never ending search for new music and adding it to my playlists. There is always a certain effect of these music tunes on my work. I thought why not dive into the science of what music does to my productivity.
What I am Listening now?
Why do we Love music?
Whether you are listening to heart throbbing beats of Daft Punk or engaging subtle soundtrack from Hans Zimmer both have different effect on your mind and body.
Whenever you listen to music a part of brain get activated that's called - the Nucleus Accumbens. This triggers the release of the “pleasure chemical” dopamine, that is found in a group of neurons in your brain called the Ventral Tegmental Area (VTA):
(image res -http://thebrain.mcgill.ca/)
This pattern in the brain is called the Reward System and Dopamine is strongly bonded with it.
Dopamine is the chemical that gets released when you eat your favourite food or when you get a upvote from a Whale on Steemit, causing you to want more and more.
There is a saying for Dopamine:
“Two cheeseburgers equals one orgasm.”
Dopamine release amount and pleasure we get depends on the amount of surprise we sense. Its like when in Game of thrones (Spoiler ahead ) last episode "Spoil of war" Danerys with Dragon and Dothraki attacks Lannisters and you get all excited, yes your brain is giving you Dopamine shots.
Its like when you suddenly play an old favourite song , you get a release and you sense being somewhat high.
Music helps you complete boring tasks faster
According to a study journal of Neuroscience of Behavior and Physiology, it was found that a human's ability to recognize images, letters, and numbers was faster when rock or classical music was playing in the background compared to when there was no music. Similar effect was observed on workers at assembly line at a factory. Workers listening to music made less mistakes and were happy from their day work.
But when to pause
It is important that you should pause your music for the moment when you are learning a new thing. Once you get accustom to it you can go on with your music . The study concluded that your ability to learn something new that is cognitively demanding decreases when you listen to music.
Create your work playlist
Whatever music you listen it helps in lowering your tension from work . Stephen King listen to Hard Rock music while working on his writings.
If you’re listening to new music on work, your brain may release too much dopamine especially if you find a song appealing.
You're brain would start focusing more on the music rather than the work you’re ought to do. So it is advised to listen to music that you've heard before so it acts as a background of your mind and brain don't focus on the music. Said this its obvious that instrumental works best. With no lyrics to disturb your working mind I would recommend listening to instrumentals at work.
Everyone has a different taste of music and people love to experiment with genre, artists , culture , so my idea for music is experiment with everything.
(References- mikaelcho)
