Bringing Music to Work

Music is incorporated into every aspect of a human's life. When we are sad, energized, happy, or frustrated there is always a song that a person can listen to relate to their emotions. If music has such an important role in our lives, why do we not incorporate it more in our professional lives? Dr. Amit Sood from the Mayo Clinic has done research on music’s effect on the human brain, and he has discovered that when a human listens to a melodious sound it releases dopamine in the brain. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter with the function of motivation, movement, and reward. Regions in the brain that are focused on movement, attention, planning, and memory are shown more active when participants listened to music. Not only that but music helps stabilize mental, physical, and emotional rhythms in your brain. This allows the listener to enter a deep state of concentration and that will allow their brain to process and learn a lot of information. Concentration is one of the hardest but most important parts of a job and music has been shown to help increase productivity of a worker. Dr. Sood found that it can only takes 15 to 30 minutes to help regain concentration for someone. John Hopkins’ studies have shown that the best music to listen to for the most effective concentration levels is music that have 50 to 80 beats per minute. Some music that fits in this range is Baroque music, which includes Bach, Handel, and Telemann. With different forms of jobs, such repetitive work tasks or intensely focused work there are different types of music a worker should listen to. For workers with a monotonous duty, it has shown that is best is best for them to listen to music that they enjoy that is upbeat and also lyric based. Since theirs tasks do not require a lot of brain activity it is good for them to listen to a changing exciting song. Assembly line workers have showed an increased level of happiness and efficiency while listening to music. However, if a worker is tasked with a job that requires deep concentration and focus there is an alternate music to help with productivity. Scientist has suggested that you should listen to music that you are familiar with, because you will pay less attention to the music and more to your work. The most important part for both styles of work is that you listen to music that makes the worker happy. Maybe people misconstrued the idea that all music increases productivity; that is incorrect. Music that people enjoy lead to a more positive mood and from that you have increased productivity.Another study has showed that music can led to an active learning experience. You can play music that relates to the information that you are listening to. For example, if you are studying a certain era in history it would make the experience more interesting if you plated music from that era. Not only does music help with concentration but it also has shown strong positive correlations with creativity. Not only does music assist with concentration, but there are other benefits to music. Another benefit is that through studies it has shown that there is a positive correlation between music and creativity. The release of dopamine that music helps release into the brain is known to trigger parts in the brain that focuses on creativity. If music can help expand employees’ creative levels than companies should integrate this inexpensive technique to everyday work rituals.