The best type of music to listen to for optimal focus and productivity: What the research says

There is no scientific consensus on the effect of music on productivity^​1​. But research has come up with some interesting findings that can help you choose the type of music that works best for you.

How music affects your productivity

One prominent theory says that music influences productivity by putting you in a particular mood or state of mind^​1,2​. Music affects your focus because it’s arousing.

Here’s how it works: anything that is arousing or stimulating captures our attention. As a result, music can make us less focused if it’s too stimulating. The more stimulating the music, the more it distracts us from our work^​3​.

What makes music stimulating?

Music has certain characteristics that can make it more or less stimulating^​4​. These characteristics include:

• Complexity. Complex music, like classical or experimental music, is more stimulating than music with simple melodies and harmonies^​5​.
• Lyrics. Vocals in a song can also take up extra resources because of the language processing they require compared to instrumental music^​6,7​.
• Tempo. Songs with more beats per minute (BPM) have more “auditory units” for your brain to process per minute, which makes music with a high BPM more stimulating^​8​.
• Volume. All else equal, music played at a high volume is more distracting^​9​.
• Familiarity. Try to steer clear of songs you either strongly like or strongly dislike, because music you’re familiar with can also take up more attentional resources^​7,10​.

Based on the characteristics above, music you can listen to while working should be simple, free of lyrics, featuring very few beats per minute, played at a low volume, and music you don’t feel strongly about. This kind of music exists. It’s best known as silence.

That’s right, very often, the best way to focus is to turn the music off^​7,11​.

When music can help you be more productive

Silence can help you focus in most cases. But is silence always the answer? It all depends on who you are, what kind of task you have at hand, and how you’re feeling.

There are at least three situations when music may help your productivity.

• You’re working on a simple task. Simple tasks require very few attentional resources. So when people work on a simple task, much of their attentional resources remain underused. As a result, their brain is under-stimulated and starts to wander, ultimately reducing focus and productivity. In such cases, music can help—especially complex music with lyrics^​5​. As music captures your unused attention, you can stay focused on simple tasks longer. For complex tasks, however, music is less helpful. Your music distracts you from the task at hand, especially if it’s too stimulating or familiar. The simpler the task, the more stimulating the music should be (see above for characteristics that make music more stimulating).

• You’re stressed out. There is some evidence that, compared to silence, soft and relaxing music reduces work-related stress^​12​.

• You’re an extrovert. Research suggests that you’re more likely to be distracted by music if you’re an introvert compared to extroverts^{​13–15​}. The reason is that introverts don’t do well when they’re over-stimulated, unlike extroverts. Interestingly, there is no evidence that you’ll be more productive while listening to music if you’re a creative type^​16​.

How to choose your music depending on your goal

Music listening and time of day

Music feels good, and we should enjoy it whenever we want. However, the music you listen to has different effects at different times of day. Here are some ideal times to listen to music–or not.

• During breaks. Listening to music during short breaks at work can increase your productivity.

• During workouts. Listening to music during long workouts can make exercise more enjoyable and boost your physical performance^​17​.

• Long before bedtime. When you listen to music before going to bed, your brain will continue processing it while you sleep. This leads to earworms, that is, music that gets stuck in your head. As a result, your sleep suffers and you’ll likely be unproductive and unable to focus the next day^​18​.

Music recommendations

If you can’t stand silence or want a little bit more stimulation, ambient music may be a good compromise. Ambient music usually doesn’t have lyrics. It’s soothing, slow, atmospheric, and you can usually listen to it for hours without getting annoyed.

Here are a few of my personal recommendations: