Of all the things scientists could be working on, I didn’t think this would be one. Marconi Union, with the assistance of science, carefully crafted the “most relaxing song ever” — their song, “Weightless.”
I’m listening to it as I write this, and it’s conceptual construction seems kinda obvious. Long harmonies and a slow, steady pulse have always been staples of late-night or studying music. But this was made by science, dammit, so why has it been labeled as the most relaxing song ever?
Well, relieving stress has a lot to do with the brain and the heart. The song has 60 beats per minute, which subconsciously causes the listener’s heart to match up at that slower, healthy pulse (seriously, I felt it myself, at least until it freaked me out and my heart sped up). A study was ran in the UK that measured stress relief after a bath, a massage, and a listening session to “Weightless.” Of course it showed that the song was most relieving, but no actual statistics or study designs seem to be posted online, so I’m inclined to be a little skeptical about that one. A different study, though, seems reasonable. Forty women were monitored and given challenging puzzles. The group that listened to the song were more effective, but also experienced drowsiness. A sample of forty women doesn’t prove anything with any certainty, but it does support “Weightless”‘s soothingness.
As the only relevant song created with the use of science, it’s fair to say that to date, Marconi Union’s “Weightless” looks to be the most relaxing song ever, but nothing can be decided without a larger experiment. At the very least, I now know it’s a great song to blog to.
Listening to this song, I feel myself getting tired. I think it is very soothing, but I’m not sure it would be the best for studying because I might not be able to stay awake! I also agree that the all women study poses a red flag. Why didn’t they test any men? The article says that it does not recommend driving while listening to the song because it is SO relaxing and that could be dangerous. This seems like something that would be great to listen to when trying to fall asleep or just find a peaceful moment in the day.
I have often found myself trying to find a very relaxing song to study to during exam time and have run into a lot of trouble. I can always find a good, calming melody to listen to but it eventually begins to make me drowsy and I need to change to rap music so that I can stay awake. But I also find that I cannot listen to my favorite music while I study because I will get so caught up in singing to my favorite songs that I wont bay attention to the work in front of me. My friends recommended the following song to me because they found they it helped them focus during study time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPni755-Krg
People constantly told me that slow, calm songs are the best songs for studying. I had listened to many of those types of songs while studying and nothing really worked for me. I agree with you that the first study done isn’t accurate and we can’t conclude the result based on the study. For the second experiment, you mentioned that forty women were monitored. I believe this causes a bias in the study because all of the volunteers are women. Would the experiment result be different if the volunteers were all male? Another question also popped into mind, what if some of the volunteers just can’t focus while listening to music? Because when I study, I can’t listen to any music or I’ll be distracted. Overall, I really like the topic you chose!