Study finds that snowboarders listening to music have less injuries
This is brilliant - seems that if you listen to music while you're snowboarding you're less likely to have an accident. However, the data does come with the caveat that if you do have an accident while listening to music - it's more likely to be significant and end up with a trip to the ER instead of being handled by the snow patrol on the hill.
It reminds me of driving behavior in Germany back in the day - accidents were pretty infrequent, as most people obeyed the traffic laws, however - when there was an accident it was generally pretty horrendous due to the unlimited speeds allowed on the autobahn.
The takeaway for me is the whole idea that music can encourage and facilitate the development of a state of flow. That place where you're not really thinking about what you're doing - you're just in the zone and performing effortlessly. So for our snowboarders they make less mistakes and have less accidents. the down side could potentially be that they start testing the limits of their ability - resulting in the big accidents that send them off to the ER.
Ah well - no pain - no gain!!! ;-p
Not Just for Music: Drumming Is Therapy, Too
When you look at the list of benefits as identified by scientific studies it just makes you wonder why more people aren't shouting about this. Improved T cell counts, helping Alzheimer patients, reducing drop out rates and even reversing genetic responses to stress! I wonder if it's just cultural - the idea that a drum circle is typically populated by 60's throwbacks and the whole hippie thing that keeps people from actively attending or doing something with this information. I guess we're going to need even more studies before people are convinced.
Running to the beat of your own music
Studies over the years have show the clear benefits that music can bring to runners - I particularly remember the one quoted that shows that music can reduce the perception of exertion by 10% and that synchronizing movements to the beat can increase performance by 15%. Who wouldn't want to get that benefit?
It's going to make runners at least more aware of the tempo of tracks and as the article says move people more into the techno and hip hop worlds!
They're Using Our Biology Against Us? Movie Makers Are Evil Geniuses!
Short primer on how composers use music to manipulate emotions in the movie world. Although we're all familiar with the sounds of Jaws and the shower scene from Psycho - its the infrasounds used in Paranormal Activity - those deep frequencies that we can't hear but feel - that really - that I think are really interesting!
Does listening to music improve productivity? Here's 8 compelling reasons why it does
It's funny - when we sat down 9 years ago and wrote the business plan for music2work2 we knew that one of the indicators of success would be the arrival of articles that talk about how music can help productivity. It always puts a smile on my face to read pieces like this. If you're struggling with someone who says music doesn't have an effect - get them to read this. but remember - it is all subjective - and even though these studies show a benefit - there are plenty of people for whom music is a terrible distraction - whether its instrumental or not!
#musictoworkto #musictowriteto #musictorunto
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