A good strong black coffee to be on form, then, before even opening your inbox, you start your favourite playlist: there is nothing better for lifting your spirits in the face of the tasks that lie ahead. Tounsi, sharqi, pop, jazz, rock or classical, each woman finds what suits her according to her mood. But what really happens when you listen to music while working?
Music does a great deal of good: listening to your favourite tracks stimulates the brain in a positive way. It is said to make the learning process easier, and it proves particularly useful in a noisy open-plan office, an environment that encourages neither concentration nor turning inwards.
Music and its relaxing effect
When ambient noise becomes too bothersome and distracting, the brain has to handle a surplus of data and sort through signals we would happily do without — with, as a result, a rise in cortisol levels and in stress. Failing the possibility of isolating yourself physically, putting on your headphones and going for gentle, relaxing music makes it possible to create an intellectual territory of your very own: the brain is no longer drawn to intrusive noise, which is said to prevent headaches from appearing — while allowing you to listen to your favourite track on a loop, without disturbing the people around you.
Better productivity
According to scientific studies, listening to music while working would make it possible to achieve better performance and to be more productive — even more so for repetitive tasks, with music limiting errors and making it possible to work faster.
Listening to music is said to act on well-being by releasing neurotransmitters such as serotonin or dopamine, thereby improving the emotional state and concentration. The more relaxed you are, the more attentive, patient and available you are with your colleagues.
Does music influence intelligence?
In 1993, at the University of California, Frances Rauscher established a link between IQ and music: music, it is suggested, awakens the cognitive functions and stimulates intellectual capacities. Reason enough to start your favourite playlist before a long working session.
A brain sorting through less ambient noise is a more focused brain: gentle music acts as a protected intellectual territory, in the middle of the open-plan office.
