[Music and reading] Is music BGM effective for reading?

Do you play music while reading or studying? BGM is played in cafes and many people are reading books. Is music really effective when doing various things such as studying, reading books, and working? Rather, playing music can make you less focused and less relaxed. I tried to find out what kind of music is suitable for reading.

The benefits of music

The advantages of combining reading and music are as follows. Listening to music may give better results than silence. For those who aren’t interested in music in the first place, it may sound like noise.

relax

By listening to music, when alpha waves come out into the brain, the mind and body calm down and lead to a relaxed state. You can spend a stress-free reading time by listening to music.

concentration

Work may be faster if there is some environmental noise. If you are silent and have difficulty concentrating, listening to music can help you improve your efficiency.

Improving memory

Reading while listening to music may improve your memory. When you listen to music that you used to listen to a lot, you may naturally remember the scenes of the past. Music is easy to connect with memory, and reading while listening to music can be easy to remember.

Recommended music genre

So what is the best music for reading? Specifically, first of all, it’s music without lyrics. With lyrics, you may start thinking about the meaning of the lyrics or you may not be able to concentrate on the book. It also needs to be a song with a slow tempo and a song with little change in scale. If it’s a song that changes drastically, it’s likely that your brain will be stimulated and you won’t be able to concentrate on reading. Then, with this point in mind, I have listed below what kind of music is good.

Classic

Classic has the effect of stabilizing the mind. It is a music genre that is very suitable for reading because there are research results that can have effects such as being able to concentrate on studying and working. Especially recommended for those who like the beautiful tunes of the piano and those who like the sad tones of stringed instruments.

Natural sounds

Natural sounds, such as the sounds of insects, animals, winds, and river water, have been found to have a relaxing effect on humans. Being able to relax allows one to focus on reading.

Ambient

Ambient is a genre with very little change in scale. In addition, the tempo is very slow, and reading is rarely disturbed by music.

healing

Healing music is a musical genre that emerged in the early 2000s. Most of the songs were created for the purpose of healing human beings, and it is one of the genres that is very suitable for reading.

Music genres that cannot be recommended

On the other hand, there are some genres that we definitely cannot recommend. The following genres of music are said to be unsuitable for reading.

song

Songs with lyrics are not suitable for reading. By thinking about the meaning of the lyrics, you can’t concentrate on reading.

EDM

EDM, which is a genre with drastic changes in the scale, and rock are overstimulating the brain. I don’t recommend it because it’s no longer a place to read.