If You Listen To This Specific Christmas Song While Working, Research Says You're Probably Not Going To Get Anything Done
Alliance Images | Shutterstock We all listen to music while working from time to time. Maybe you’re working from home and have full control over your environment, or maybe you work in an office that has its own playlist going throughout the day. Music can break up the monotony of repetitive tasks that we all dread.
But, as anyone who listens to music while doing something they have to focus on knows, you can’t listen to just any music while working. Some music, like lo-fi, will actually help you concentrate, while more upbeat offerings may distract you from the task at hand. Apparently, there’s one particular Christmas song that will ensure you’re not going to be able to get anything done.
Listening to Ariana Grande’s version of ‘Last Christmas’ is a bad idea while you’re working.
Wham!’s classic hit “Last Christmas” has been covered by pretty much everyone at this point, including Ariana Grande, whose upbeat pop take on the song is particularly catchy. However, TopResume analyzed the beats per minute (BPM) in the song and found that it has 206. Apparently, any song that has over 150 BPM makes working harder and increases stress.
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The rest of the top five most distracting holiday songs were rounded out by “Mele Kalikimaka (Merry Christmas)” by Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters, “Merry Christmas Everyone” by Shakin’ Stevens, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” by Andy Williams, and “Santa Tell Me” by Ariana Grande. It seems that Grande’s bubbly pop hits are repeat offenders.
Meanwhile, songs with 60 to 80 BPM can actually improve your focus. The best songs to use to accomplish this goal were “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” by Brenda Lee, “The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas to You)” by Nat King Cole, “Do You Hear What I Hear?” by Whitney Houston, “Christmas Time is Here” by Vince Guaraldi Trio, and “Frosty the Snowman” by Ella Fitzgerald.
Music may help with focus, but only in certain situations.
According to the Stanford Daily, Cambridge Sound Management found that music with lyrics was distracting to 48% of office workers. Additionally, the BMS College of Music concluded that people were less stressed when they listened to music that had 60 BPM.
A 2020 study published in the journal Psychological Research found that listening to background music helped people focus better on the task at hand and reduced the amount of time their minds wandered. However, this worked better when applied to simpler tasks.
So, there is some evidence to suggest that music can help you focus, but it’s not entirely conclusive, and it’s not good news for people who like music that has lyrics. Ultimately, only you can decide what’s best for you while working, but it’s pretty safe to say that more up-tempo songs are likely to distract you more easily.
It’s important to know what specifically distracts you.
M.A. Smith from TopResume wrote about what we can all do during the holiday season to stay focused at work, when our minds would much rather drift to shopping lists and family dinner plans. One of his biggest recommendations was to “limit your distractions.” He instructed, “Remove anything from your work area that has distracted you in the past.”
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Music may not be something conventional that we think of removing from a space, but you can always choose to press pause or even stop listening for a bit. Sure, it’s fun to listen to music during the day, but it’s even more fun to get done with your work on time. Music could potentially be getting in the way of you doing that.
You have to be the one who determines what works for you, and you may have no problem focusing while “Last Christmas” plays. But if you want to remain productive, pay attention to the songs that throw you off track. You’ll probably want to stay away from them.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.
