Psychologist and neuroscientist Michael Scullin of Baylor University pondered the relationship between sleep quality and listening to music before going to bed after waking up in the middle of the night with a song playing in his head. This led him to the idea that music can affect sleep patterns.
He therefore conducted research that was recently published in a professional journal Psychological Science and which was attended by over 200 people. He focused mainly on the mechanism, which has not yet received much attention in science, ie. a state where the music in the human mind keeps repeating itself. This is called “ear worm” or stuck song syndrome.
It usually occurs when a person is awake, but Scullin finds that it can happen in his sleep. “Our brains still process music even when it’s no longer playing, even during sleep,” he explains. The more you listen to music at bedtime, the more likely you are to have song jam syndrome.
People who suffer from this on a regular basis at least once a week are six times more likely to lose sleep quality than those who do not have “ear worms”.
Surprisingly, the study found that instrumental music led to this syndrome more often than songs with lyrics. “Instrumental music has led to about twice the number of earworms,” Scullin said.
“Before going to bed, we played three catchy songs to research participants. Shake It Off by Taylor Swift, Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen, and Don’t Stop Believin ‘by Journey. We randomly played the original versions of these songs and instrumental versions without lyrics.” described the course of the research by a neuroscientist.
People who got stuck after listening listened to the song more often at night and at the same time had less deep sleep. In individuals with a strong habit of listening to music at bedtime, the researchers noted permanent “ear worms” and a related decline in sleep quality.
Scullin therefore recommends that people limit their listening to music a little or take breaks. Timing is also important, so avoid this activity at bedtime. The sleeping brain can process music for hours after it is no longer playing. Cognitive training, which employs the brain, can also help with stuck song syndrome. For example, sit down for a logical task for five to ten minutes and try to solve it.
There are various myths about sleep. Take a look at the most common ones in the March 2019 report:
– .
