To significantly reduce anxiety (up to 65%), listen to the song ‘Weightless’ by Marconi Union for at least three minutes, as studies show it can be as effective as common anti-anxiety medication.
Listen to your favorite music for 10 to 30 minutes (or up to 60 minutes) per day, without doing anything else, to increase heart rate variability around the clock, which is beneficial for mental and physical health.
When feeling sad, listen to sad music (on average 50-60 beats per minute or less, with or without lyrics) for 13 minutes or more to help process and move through somber feelings, potentially amplifying the emotion as a form of catharsis.
To significantly shift your mood to a happier state, listen to faster cadence music (140-150 beats per minute or faster), even with nonsense lyrics, for at least nine minutes.
Listen to music for 10 to 15 minutes prior to engaging in physical or cognitive work to significantly increase your state of motivation for that task.
For cognitive tasks requiring high focus, work in complete silence, or with white noise, brown noise, or 40 hertz binaural beats in the background, as these conditions generally lead to better performance than instrumental music, and significantly better than music with lyrics or favorite music.
Listen to uplifting and motivating music, even with familiar lyrics, during breaks between bouts of cognitive work (e.g., 30-90 minute work sessions followed by 5-30 minute breaks) to enhance focus and learning upon returning to the task.
Learn to play a musical instrument or sing (especially in a group) at any age, as this enhances learning and acquisition of new skills, acting as a gateway to neuroplasticity.
Actively listen to novel forms of music (music you don’t typically listen to) for 30-60 minutes, even just three days a week, to expand your brain’s capacity for neuroplasticity and improve learning for both cognitive and physical skills.
Encourage children, especially those younger than eight, to learn to play one or multiple musical instruments (with or without reading music) to greatly enhance brain connectivity, which persists into adulthood and facilitates other forms of neuroplasticity and learning.
To enhance physical performance, listen to fast, upbeat, motivating music during rest periods between sets of resistance training or periodically during endurance exercise, as this can exceed the benefits of listening to music continuously throughout the workout.
Do not listen to music with lyrics, especially familiar ones, while performing cognitive tasks or trying to learn new material, as the lyrical content competes with your comprehension and impedes learning.
Practice Yoga Nidra or Non-Sleep Deep Rest (NSDR) by lying very still with an active mind for even a short 10-minute session to greatly restore cognitive and physical energy.
Deliberately make your inhales longer or more vigorous to increase heart rate, and deliberately make your exhales longer or more vigorous to slow down your heart rate, leveraging respiratory sinus arrhythmia.
To increase motivation to move, listen to music with a relatively faster cadence (e.g., 140-150 beats per minute or faster), as this activates premotor and motor circuits, regardless of familiarity or lyrical content.
Dissolve one packet of Element in 16-32 ounces of water and drink it first thing in the morning, and also during any physical exercise, to ensure adequate hydration and electrolytes for optimal brain and body function.
Utilize the Waking Up meditation app for various meditation programs, mindfulness trainings, Yoga Nidra, and NSDR protocols, adjusting duration and type to suit your available time and desired brain/body state.
When reading, actively listen to the words being spoken in your head as if they are being vocalized, as this internal dialogue can enhance retention of information.
To enhance productivity, listen to music in between bouts of work or during brief rest periods, as opposed to listening to music while actively working.
Experiment with listening to motivating and familiar music before, during, or after workouts, or switching between silence and music during exertion and rest periods, to find what best enhances your physical performance and motivation.