Because I live in a small town in Maine, it’s pretty much a given that I have to travel a little in order to find a nice part-time job that I enjoy having. Sometimes the 40 minute (one way) drive to work I have four to five days a week can sometimes be daunting.
However, I always like to have some of my favorite music playing in order to make the time seem as if it’s going by faster. Plus it’s kind of boring to just sit there by myself for 40 minutes in silence.
I was thinking about it today and I wondered if there was any research out there pointing to music listening in the car being a positive thing.
After a little search, I found a study that actually tested music’s effects on driving performance, mood and respiration/heart rate.
This study showed that music can maintain a positive mood in a driver as well as lower their respiration rate.
However, a negative effect is that music can cause some distraction when a driver has to really pay attention a lot when driving. An example of this kind of situation would be in backed up traffic with lots of cars and maybe pedestrians around.
Either way, I’m still going to play music in my car at all times. What do you think? Does this dangerous consequence of playing music outweigh your enjoyment? Let me know in a comment.
Even if you decide to drive in silence, I’d like to share my driving playlist with you all. I like to listen to mostly upbeat songs on my way to work in order to boost my mood. While the travel back home is filled with more chilled songs to wind me down.
