It’s 1:30am on a Friday night. No, before you ask, you’re not dancing with a celebratory glass of champagne in hand. Instead, you’re in your room, sitting in a squeaky chair while hunched over your desk and pouring over a seemingly endless binder full of lecture notes and textbook information.
You’ve got a coffee maker or your favorite energizing beverage within arms reach.
For those of you who’ve ever been a student, you understand that nights like these are all too common. While your friends are out having a good time or celebrating their lucky grades, you’re cooped-up in a small room or the school library trying to further your education (or at least your dwindling grades).
All you have to do is stay awake and focused enough to focus on the task at hand- studying.
This is always far easier said than done, however. Depending on how creative you are, you’ve likely tried some of the following methods:
For some, these methods genuinely work, but for other people these methods just don’t seem to work as well as the movies told you they did. At the end of the day, all of the coffee in the world won’t make your memory any better. It will just allow you to stay up and read more of the same information without actually remembering it.
What if you could start remembering a lot more than you usually do, though? What if you could relax, study, wake up the next morning, and crush that test because you actually retained the information that you studied?
We’re not talking about experimental nootropic drugs, we’re talking about something that’s as old as time- music. More specifically music for studying.
That’s right, today we’re going to be going over how relaxing study music can positively affect your brain and your study habits to ensure that you actually remember what you read and are able to retain it long enough to make a solid grade on your next exam.
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Can Music Make Me Smarter?
Of course, when you tell most people that they can better their grades and their studying habits by listening to music, the first question that jumps to their head is, “Can music actually make me smarter?”
The answer is a little bit complicated, but the quick answer is yes.
Music doesn’t necessarily “make you smarter,” but it does do a lot of other things for your brain that can help you to be a better student and happier person.
How Music Affects Your Brain
Good study music works on your brain in two key ways. The first is that it triggers an emotional response, and the second is that it alters your brainwaves. Let’s take a look at why these two things are so important when it comes to the way that you study.
Emotional Experience
Think back to some of the happiest and saddest moments in your life. You probably remember each and every detail with absolute clarity. You remember the temperature in the room, the weather outside, the smells in the air, the way you felt, what somebody said, and maybe even what you were wearing.
The reason why you remember all of these details with such stunning clarity is because you have an attached emotional experience to them. Your brain experienced such a rush of emotion that these moments are permanently branded into your long-term memory, and you’ll likely never forget them.
Now what does this have to do with studying music?
Simple. Almost all music creates an emotional response in your brain, and emotional responses help you to remember the details surrounding the moment you have that emotional response. The emotions you feel tell your brain to make an important note of the event.
While the song that you’re listening to may not be powerful enough to help you remember the quadratic formula ten years from now, they can certainly elicit enough of a response to boost your short-term memory and help create a clear association which you can remember days into your future when you take your next test.
A Quick Note On Brainwaves
On an even deeper level, good study music or specially designed focusing music changes your brainwaves. Brainwaves are the root of almost everything we do. Our thoughts, behavior, emotions, and memory is all based off of millions of neurons firing off and corresponding in our brains.
Brainwaves measure the frequency at which these synchronized pulses of communication occur between neurons. In a way, brainwaves are a lot like notes in a musical score. High frequency waves are like the flutes and low frequency waves are like the drums or tuba.
Scientists have classified these waves into six distinct categories, which we’ll get into below. Essentially, your current state of brainwave activity dictates everything you do, and learning how to manipulate them through the use of studying music is a one of the best ways to boost your short-term memory and ensure that you actually remember what you’re reading.
Infra-Low (.5HZ or less)
Infra-low waves are very low frequency waves that affect how our brains perceive time and how the neurons communicate. Not a lot is known about their deeper function as they are hard to detect.
Delta (.5 to 3 HZ)
When your body is resting in a deep sleep, your brain is going to be primarily producing low-frequency delta waves and your body will be in a healing state. If possible, you want to avoid producing these in a study session as it will put you straight to sleep.
Theta (3 to 8HZ)
Theta is another low frequency wave that our brains achieve during sleep while we dream. Again, you’ll want to avoid focus or study music at these frequencies at it will put you into a meditative state.
Alpha (8 to 12HZ)
Once you start listening to study music that has tones between 8 and 12 HZ, you’ll experience a noticeable change in your alertness levels. You’ll feel a calm and alert focus that is incredibly useful when you’re trying to learn new subjects or memorize details during your studies.
Beta (12 to 28HZ)
Beta waves are high energy waves that we produce when we’re being alert and productive. Listening to classical study music that boosts beta brainwave production is the best way to ensure that you’re alert and actively paying attention to the subjects that you’re studying for.
Gamma (38 to 42HZ)
Gamma waves are the most energetic waves and occur when our brains are processing information at incredibly quick rates. If you’re in a state of deep flow, learning, and study, then you’ll be producing a healthy mixture of beta and gamma waves throughout.
Our Recommendations For The Best Study Music
So, now that you know a little bit more about how your brain works, let’s get into our recommendations for some of the best study music.
While you can do a quick YouTube search and find brainwave frequencies to listen to, these are usually just a series of beeps and sine waves that tend to be more annoying than they are helpful.
The best way to increase your short-term memory retention through music is to listen to the classics.
That’s right, we’re talking about Beethoven and Tchaikovsky. Before the digital age, these composers would lock themselves away for months creating their masterpieces.
Their success in life hinged on one thing- their ability to create an emotional experience for their audience which they would never forget. This was especially important in an age where there was no such thing as music streaming. These people would likely only listen to music a few times per year.
That being said, let’s get into our top recommendations of classical music for studying.