Music is one of the most stimulating activities for the human brain. Harvard Health Publishing, says music “all at once” is one of the only solitary activities that can activate several parts of our mind.
Consuming lives for the better, music is everywhere and has a multitude of benefits. From helping you to acquire knowledge to improving mental health.
“Music activates both the left and right brain at the same time, and the activation of both hemispheres can maximize learning and improve memory,” says Dr. Masha Godkin, a professor at National University in San Diego.
Music’s ability to stimulate the brain helps students’ focus depending on the type of music they are listening to. Kathy Boggio, the AP Psychology teacher at SJHHS, explains how music with words can activate the left part of the brain due to its cognitive functions such as language processing.
High-school itself is already an overstimulating environment with over 2,000 students not to mention the aspect of academic stress. Music can become an outlet to drown out outside noise in a classroom setting.
“For tutorial, I usually like to have music playing for students, trying to keep it somewhat mellow so that students can still focus but a lot of students really like to listen to music when they’re studying,” said math teacher Heather Traudt.
Music does not only help in a learning setting but in a working environment as well. Studies from University of Miami professor and program director, Teresa Lesiuk have found that music improves software developers’ mood, work quality, and time-on-task.
Students and teachers have both stated that music helps them with work as well. Teagan Acevedo (12) has been working at Chick-fil-la since her junior year and noted that fast paced music often kept the staff up and moving.
“I know everybody’s different, but for me, it helps me to stay focused by canceling out outside noise, like whatever’s going on around me so that I can stay focused in that way,” said Traudt.
Music is more than entertainment but continues to provide restoring aspects to improve memory and focus. When you struggle to stay on task, some recommended music genres to listen to are, lo-fi, jazz, and classical.
