Table of contents:
- Learning is a stress-inducing activity
- Listening to music while learning improves memory
- What kind of music is suitable for listening to while studying?
Everyone has a different way of learning. There are those who need a quiet atmosphere when studying, but there are also those who listen to music while studying because they feel they can concentrate better.
Is it true that learning while listening to music is more effective? If so, what makes music can have the effect of sharpening the function of thinking for the brain that is beingmumet? Is it from the melodious voice of the songstress, the melodic chorus of the composer's cold hands, or is it from the music genre itself? Check out the full review below.
Learning is a stress-inducing activity
Learning activities are often associated with stress. Unconsciously, the body will respond to stress by producing various stress hormones, such as adrenaline, cortisol, and norepinephrine. The increase in stress hormones in the body makes your heart rate increase so that you feel nervous, breathing is also faster and shorter, body muscles tense, blood pressure rises, anxiety easily, so it is difficult to think clearly. Familiar right, with this learning “side effect”? Especially if it is done with the SKS system, aka the overnight speeding system.
Now, listening to music can help relieve stress that arises from studying so that you can focus more on understanding the contents of the text that must be studied or memorized.
Listening to music while learning improves memory
The music we hear is preceded by the vibrations of sound waves that enter the ear drum and are transmitted to the inner ear. In the inner ear, these sound waves are picked up by hair cells in the cochlea to be converted into electrical signals. Only then is the sound signal delivered by the ear nerve fibers to the brain to be processed into electrical signals and translated into sounds you hear.
Do not stop there. At the same time, these electrical signals then spread to various parts of the brain. First, these electrical signals travel to a part of the temporal brain that works to process data to understand language (so you understand what the lyrics mean) and regulate emotions.
These electrical signals also flow to the hypothalamus of the brain, where hormones are produced as well as regulating blood pressure, heart rate, and body temperature. When responding to these electrical signals, the hypothalamus immediately works to improve the happy mood of dopamine while lowering the hormone cortisol. That's why all kinds of stress symptoms that accompany you while studying can gradually subside as you listen to music. A study even states that the release of dopamine can trigger the brain to activate reward receptors in the brain that can increase your motivation to learn.
Reporting from University Health News, the nerves of the brain become more active when you listen to music. The reason is that these electrical signals can simultaneously stimulate the relationship between the two sides of the brain (left and right) and activate brain areas related to emotional, cognitive, and memory processes. In short, listening to music while studying can improve mood and is associated with improved cognitive function of the brain, especially memory.
One study showed that participants who were asked to study while listening to music showed superior academic performance than groups of students who were asked to study in a noisy room. Although these two conditions are both noisy, learning while listening to music has been shown to make the brain focus more on one task while blocking noise from around you that has absolutely nothing to do with you or your work.
What kind of music is suitable for listening to while studying?
Mozart's classical music is predicted as the most powerful music genre for increasing intelligence. In fact this is not always the case, you know! There are no studies that really prove it with certainty. The proven theory is only limited to the sound of music that is more stable and the volume is not too loud, regardless of the genre.
But according to Chris Brewer, author of the bookSoundtracks for Learning, the benefits of listening to music will be more potent if the music genre is adjusted to the activities carried out. For example, music that contains positive lyrics is suitable for motivating learning and triggering enthusiasm when the body is tired. Meanwhile, slow-tempo music is more suitable for focusing the mind in order to stay focused because it has a more calming effect.
