Research suggests that listening to music can help those who struggle with ADHD to better their focus.
According to Northeastern University, Psyche Loui, an associate professor of music and head of the Music, Imaging, and Neural Dynamics (MIND) Laboratory at Northeastern University, collaborated with Brain.fm to explore how music impacts the brain—specifically how it affects our focus.
“Students are always wearing headphones, right? They always have some background music on,” said Loui. “A lot of folks swear by it. But others say they cannot have any music on at all when they need to concentrate.”
Struggling With ADHD? Music Might Provide Relief.
The research analyzed this contradiction “by singling out and testing specific musical characteristics meant to stimulate the areas of the brain that help us stay on task,” Northeastern University reported. “Not only do they work, the researchers found, but they work especially well for people with attentional difficulties, including ADHD.”
You would think that those suffering from ADHD would get distracted by music or other audio stimuli, but it seems to have quite the opposite effect for many.
“The brain actually oscillates at certain frequencies,” Loui explained. “If you insert those frequencies into the music, that might influence your activity in those same frequencies in the brain—we saw that the brain was very clearly ‘phase locking,’ or [working] in time to these amplitude modulations that were inserted in the music.”
Furthermore, “People who experience ADHD symptoms are more sensitive to this,” Loui explained.
Of course, the type of music you listen to will greatly impact how it affects your ability to pay attention. For example, music with lyrics might sidetrack your brain, while energizing upbeat music (without words) could motivate you sans distraction, Loui said.
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