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Music for Productivity? It Tracks

Picture this: You’re a freshman in college walking into your first class, cell phone in hand. In fact, every person around you has their cell phone out to text, listen to the latest pop hit, or something else entirely to pass the time before class begins. As the clock hits the hour, those small, handy devices are shoved into backpacks while the professor glares, arms crossed, at the class. This is a strict no phone zone. Students who want to record the lecture for playback while studying or those who want to listen to music during certain "busy work" periods reluctantly refrain from doing so (or pretend to). 

But what if I told you that music actually has a solid link to productivity? Studies claim that music can boost concentration, motivation, and attention to detail. Some go as far as defining the different sound frequencies and their impact on brain waves during the learning process.

 

Sure, one could argue that music is distracting. In an article published by the Texas A&M Foundation, an associate professor of psychological and brain sciences at Texas A&M University believes that multitasking is a fallacy. “Humans are not capable of truly multitasking because attention is a limited resource. Listening to music takes your attention away from what you are working on to some degree, which comes at a cost” (Hill, 2021).

However, there’s new evidence suggesting that listening to music while working or completing mundane tasks does in fact make people more productive. Certain tunes improve your mood, spark a creative flow, or enhance brain power in the short term. For example, let’s take Mozart.

Listening to Mozart is linked to improving spatial awareness, according to an article in Atlassian (2024). The article highlights a paper published by Frances Rauscher, Gordon Shaw, and Catherine Ky. 

The authors completed a research study with 39 college students who were tasked with looking at folded pieces of paper and then guessing how they would appear unfolded. The findings concluded, "After listening to a Mozart sonata (K.448) for 10 minutes, the students scored significantly higher on spatial tests." 

If Mozart's not your jam, there are plenty of other music types that can stimulate brain wave activity and supercharge your noggin. 

The Brain Wave States - A Bittersweet Symphony 

Spatial awareness is essential to healthy brain activity, and in order to get a better grasp on this part of the neuroscience lesson, we’ll need to explore the different brain wave states.

First, let's start by identifying the waves – there are five:

Synctuition (2022). Understanding the Wellness Benefits ofBrainwave - Binaural Beats [Digital image]. https://synctuition.com/blog/understanding-the-wellness-benefits-of-binaural-beats/
  • Gamma waves: 32 to 100 Hz. Heightened mental activities, such as studying and solving problems
  • Beta waves: 13 to 32 Hz. Enhanced concentration, and when these are in excess, you experience stress
  • Alpha waves: 8 to 13 Hz. Relaxation, typically while sleeping or daydreaming
  • Theta waves: 4 to 8 Hz. Creativity, which often occurs during REM sleep (the phase where you are dreaming) 
  • Delta waves: 0.5 to 4 Hz. Deep sleep, a phase before and after REM sleep associated with the body’s recovery stage in which new cells are produced

All brain waves are valuable, but for productivity, there is one key player: Gamma waves.

Gamma waves are the fastest of the five brain waves and are usually identified during conscious focus, accelerating the learning process and improving cognitive perception.  An easy way to increase gamma wave activity in the brain is through listening to certain types of "focus music."

According to Emma Loft, author of "The Science of Focus Music: How Specific Sounds Enhance Concentration and Productivity," focus music enhances the production of brain wave patterns in the beta and gamma ranges. These ranges together are associated with heightened concentration, cognitive processing, and memory formation.

There are other names for focus music, and one of them is referenced by Dr. Andrew Huberman, host of the Huberman Lab Podcast, in quite a few of his research findings. 

Don’t Stop the (Binaural) Beat - Music for Focus

Some neuroscientists, such as Dr. Huberman, refer to "focus music" as binaural beats, which can enhance memory and learning abilities by synchronizing brain wave patterns. According to Dr. Huberman, “Listening to 40 Hz binaural beats for about five minutes can enhance focus and concentration (Huberman Lab, 2024). Confused yet? Let me break it down for you.

Binaural beats create an auditory illusion by presenting two slightly different frequencies to each ear. For example, if you play a 250 Hz tone in your left ear and a 260 Hz tone in your right ear, your brain processes these two sounds and creates a third tone that’s the difference between them – in this case, a 10 Hz tone:

NeuroLogica Blog (2020). Binaural Beats, Mood, and Memory [Digital image]. https://theness.com/neurologicablog/binaural-beats-mood-and-memory/

This third tone is the “binaural beat.” To get there, your brain actually increases its focus to balance the two different frequencies. Different frequencies of binaural beats are associated with different brainwave states. In an article published by Lara Hughes, she details the delta brain wave frequency, which is the slowest wave at around 1-4 Hz and often associated with deep sleep. 

The author writes, “We can leverage binaural beats at delta frequencies to help entrain our own brain waves to said frequency. Listening to delta-specific binaural beats half an hour before bed may help your brain to produce more delta-waves, supporting those deeper and restorative sleep stages.” 

As for our key player, the gamma wave, you would need to listen to beats that range from around 30-100 Hz. Going back to Huberman’s research, the sweet spot of 40 Hz enhances focus and concentration by increasing dopamine and acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter that allows neurons to communicate with each other and other cells (Huberman Lab Clips, 2022).

Supercharging Your Focus - Boost Your Concentration

Picture yourself again in the back of a college classroom, iPod (or iPhone, if you didn’t live through this episode of the 2000s) tucked into your backpack and one earbud discreetly in place for optimal background music as you work. The professor stops at your desk to make a comment, but you’ve got a comeback with the research to back it. 

To enhance learning using 40 Hz binaural beats, you can follow the guidance provided by Dr. Huberman (Huberman Lab, 2024):
  1. Find a source of 40 Hz binaural beats, which can be found on various apps or YouTube videos, often at no cost. Just look up binaural beats on Spotify, and you’ll find some gems! Check out these links:
  2. Use headphones for the best effect, as binaural beats work by providing slightly different frequencies to each ear.
  3. Before starting intensive work, listen to 40 Hz binaural beats for about five minutes. Sometimes, Dr. Huberman uses them right before weight workouts to focus on contracting specific muscles.
  4. Avoid using 40 Hz binaural beats continuously while working, as you might habituate to the stimulus.

Music isn't just background noise; it's a secret weapon for unlocking higher levels of productivity and creativity. Whether it's Mozart fine-tuning your spatial awareness or binaural beats syncing your brainwaves into high-focus mode, the right sounds can transform how you think, work, and learn. The science behind these rhythms proves what many of us have felt — music is more than entertainment; it's a soundtrack to success.

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