These Are The Surprising Top Chill-Out Songs, According To Spotify

“There is a growing interest globally on the impact certain music has on performance,” says Dr. Amanda Krause, a psychologist and Research Fellow at The University of Melbourne, Australia, who specializes in the social and applied psychology of music and worked with Spotify on the release of the list. “We refer to it in the industry as ‘musical fit,’ where the type of music you feel ‘fits’ an activity creates an impact on the way you physically react.”

And Krause couldn't be more on the money when it comes to music and the mental state needed for performance. A study conducted by researchers from Brunel University monitored the effects on brain activity while exercising with music, a podcast, and no noise. By strapping portable monitoring devices (called electroencephalograms) to the study participants, scientists were able to identify a 28 per cent rise in enjoyment while listening to music.

“The EEG technology facilitated measurement during an ecologically-valid outdoor task, so we could finally explore the brain mechanisms that underlie the effects of music during real-life exercise situations,” said psychologist Marcelo Bigliassi. According to Bigliassi and the team behind the research, music boosts beta frequencies in the frontal and central regions of the cortex. Aka it makes you high on life!

Elaborating on the cause of musically improved performance, Krause suggests that the style of music impacts different activities in a variety of ways, eliciting different goals for certain practices. “For example, with yoga, the variety of music is chosen with regard to how it helps timing, focus, and motivation, which in turn enhances your overall performance.”