As someone who has a playlist for every single mood and occasion – the kind of music you play can have a surprising impact on your mood and actions.

Whether you’re happy, sad, excited, nostalgic, we all have those certain songs that get us going or make us tick – but what about when we’re working?

Helen Whitham works at a food production factory and she doesn’t have the best of relationships with the radio that plays through the speakers in the cookhouses.

“I started working there two years ago and straight away I thought, what radio station is this? I thought the songs being played were very repetitive.

“There’s one particular song they played on the first day I worked there and throughout that shift they played it five separate times within 12 hours – two years later and they’re still playing that exact same song five times a day.

“It would make work so much more bearable and enjoyable if we could go in and play the songs or stations that we like – the repetitiveness makes it feel like you’re going stir crazy – because what radio station plays Dear Darlin’ by Olly Murs every single day?

“Music absolutely has a positive impact on mood and I think it would actually make workers more motivated and conversational by playing music that everyone can enjoy instead of the same thing over and over again.”

In a study published by Harvard Medical School, they said that:

• Music listeners had higher scores for mental well-being and slightly reduced levels of anxiety and depression compared to people overall
• Active musical engagement, including those over age 50, was associated with higher rates of happiness and good cognitive function
• Music has been shown to activate some of the broadest and most diverse networks of the brain

Based on this alone it implies that if workers were given the option to listen to good music when working then realistically it should improve their work performance.

Repetitive surroundings are not able to stimulate the brain – however, if you came into work everyday expecting something new (such as a different music genre) then it would probably contribute to a better environment for working.

So whether it’s Lana Del Rey, Guns n’ Roses, Arctic Monkeys, Chappell Roan, or even Frank Sinatra – it’s important to consider how music can have an impact on the working mind.