The worst for the brain.
Tradition obliges, the famous Christmas songs are part of the arsenal deployed in December. This music generally arouses a feeling of nostalgia and puts us in a festive or regressive state of mind depending on the person. But after the 10th or 20th listen, they would start to stress us out in an insidious way and be harmful to our mental well-being.
We hear them everywhere, in television advertisements, in the loudspeakers of stores and shopping centers and on the playlists of every evening in December. They run in a loop. “To ignore it, we are forced to make considerable mental effort, which induces cognitive fatigue. Scientifically speaking, repetitive listening to the same song saturates the brain which then begins to send negative signals causing stress in daily life, especially at Christmas time which is already an intensive period“, explains Linda Blair, clinical psychologist, to the media SkyNews.
In psychology, this phenomenon has a name: “the mere exposure effect”. Simply put, our reaction to songs evolves along a U-shaped curve.”At first we like the music a little, then we like it more and more until it reaches a peak. And then we hear it over and over again and that’s when the boredom and annoyance with the repetition of the same sound hits us. Anyone who has worked in a Christmas store over the holidays knows what I’m talking about“, explains Dr Victoria Williamson, researcher in music psychology in London, interviewed by NBC News. Obviously, the effect of music depends on our own psychological state. “People already stressed by the holidays, worried about money or family visits, will have more difficulty tolerating it. On the other hand, those who approach the holidays in a relaxed manner will be more likely to enjoy it or at least tolerate it“, she continues.
According to experts, fast-tempo music like “Jingle Bells” or Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You” are the most annoying and mentally exhausting compared to slower songs. Purists can be reassured, Christmas songs still have a bright future ahead of them, at least in stores and supermarkets for the simple reason that they are part of the sensory marketing strategy and that they push us to purchase without even realizing it.