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There is always a song or a tune stuck in your head. You go to your barber and it is there. You are driving your car and it is still there; although, in case of the latter, it might even be a choice. No matter how hard you try to ‘shake it off’, it just won't go away. Probably too many pop-culture references in one sentence but you got the point. Earworms are persistent, and at times annoying. Surveys suggest that 90 percent of people experience this phenomenon, and for about a third of them, it’s annoying. But, what exactly are these? Why are they so stubborn? And, how do you get past them? Anjali Gursahaney, a Counselling Psychologist and an ICF Leadership & Happiness Coach has the answers for you.
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What Is An Earworm?
Cornelius Eckert, a psychiatrist, first used the term in 1979. In essence, it's a looped musical segment that typically lasts 20 seconds and plays continuously. According to Anjali, these earworms are involuntary memories triggered by a thought, a mood or an external cue. If that sounds a bit complicated that’s because it is. So, let us break it down with Anjali’s help. Imagine your brain is a music player, it abruptly plays a certain song (not necessarily just one) again and again without your command. At first you think it's random. You hear a song again and again and sometimes, it just comes back to you, what’s the big deal?
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There is a reason though. The tape recorder (our brain) doesn’t just remember details, it remembers a pattern as well. Suppose you played a certain song at a certain temperature or with a certain smell or on a certain journey; now, that temperature, that smell and that journey is going to trigger the tape recorder into thinking that you wish to play that certain song and the research suggests it would play it whether you like it or not.
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How To Get Past An Earworm?
Anjali list some tips you could to get past earworms:
Run Through The Storm: It is as simple as that. If a song or a tune becomes a nuisance, just play it out once. When you listen to it, your brain registers that it has completed its task, so it stops haunting you.
Play Any Other Song: If you play another song, particularly the one you are fond of, you are likely to distract your focus from the earworm.
A Creative Distraction: Engage in anything that requires focus. Play something, draw if you fan, write in your journal or just get the PPT done for your boss.
Chewing Gum: Experiments have proven that chewing may distract you from the earworms. So, next time Ed Sheeran is playing in your head, buy a pack of gum and everything would be perfect.