This is the music you should listen to to focus

​Humans live with music at all hours, it is an art that makes us enjoy pleasant times, stimulates our memories and emotions, so it is easy to understand that when we listen to music our brain activates in different ways.

Before, it was believed that listening to music only helped the creative process and the logical approach, but today it is a fact known to everyone that music allows us to enter a state of mind that helps us improve learning.

There are studies that refute the classical belief that the two hemispheres of the brain work differently, if not the opposite, they would work together, so music would support both hemispheres to improve neural connection.

​

Listening to music activates the activity of the hormone called dopamine, which helps in synaptic connections, whose objective is learning, assimilation of knowledge and memorization. But not every theme or style of music will have the same effect on every brain. There are many studies that affirm that to improve performance, alpha waves must be activated, which are the ones that relax the human brain.

Benefits of music to concentrate

• Activate emotions
  • Music can generate pleasant sensations that, when associated with pleasure, help to enhance memory and recall.
• Vocabulary expansion
  • It helps to improve our language, since by listening to music we continually develop a more complete vocabulary thanks to the fact that we promote neural connections.
• Physical resistance
  • Helps increase physical stamina by up to 15%.
• Increase the imagination
  • Boosts the creative area of the brain.
• Improves the cardiovascular system
  • By listening to music we help our blood circulate better, which leads to an improvement in the cardiovascular system and physical and mental state.

​

Music that we should NOT listen to when studying

These musical styles are not good when studying as they can distract you. In the case of music on the radio, the ads and the announcers are the distracting elements, so it is not recommended to use it when we are looking for concentration.

Although these styles of music are not the most appropriate to generate the necessary concentration when studying, they do have other benefits that we can obtain by listening to them.

• Heavy metal, rock and punk rock help lower stress levels and anger, as well as increase physical performance in cardiovascular activities.
• Salsa music produces numerous physical, emotional, and mental benefits, as it relieves stress, increases cardiorespiratory capacity, and improves coordination and balance. Helps release both dopamine and adrenaline.

These are some of the musical styles that you should not listen to when studying:

• Rock
• Heavy metal
• Punk rock
• Pop
• Radio music
• Reggaeton

Music to listen to when studying

When we go to study, it is not recommended to listen to music that has some type of lyrics or that provokes emotions that remind us of events that we have experienced, since it can distract us if we do not have a good management of our emotions.

It is important to have a playlist specially made for the study, in this way we will not have to cut our activity to choose music. Ideally, the duration of our playlist should be around two hours, since at the end of it it will give us time for a break.

The ideal musical styles to study are:

• Clasic
  • Improves memory, attention and concentration capacity
  • Helps concentration and contributes to making the effort more enjoyable.
• New Age
  • Induces changes in the autonomic nervous system similar to those experienced by people when meditating
• Chill out
• Soft Jazz
• Natural sounds
  • The sounds of nature have great power in our body. The sound of the rain and the wind or the tinkling of the water of a flowing river can help us to better concentrate.

​

Tips for studying from home

Since we know what type of music will be the ideal to start studying, now we will leave you some tips to make your study time even more effective:

• Plan your week to study based on small goals, so on exam dates it will be less burdensome
• Have an adequate study space, that is, a large table, comfortable chair and good lighting
• Study for continuous periods of between 30 to 45 minutes, in this way you alternate study and rest in a balanced way
• Avoid distractions, so put your cell phone aside
• Choose the study method that best suits your skills, be it transcribing, underlining, summarizing, outlining, or concept mapping. Recording yourself reading to listen to it, reciting the agenda aloud or explaining it to another person can also help us.
• And most importantly, choose a good playlist to focus.

What music do you listen to when you study? Do you like our tips to make studying more effective? Leave your opinion in the comments.