Listening to music when stressed instead of reaching for an unhealthy snack could help you keep comfort eating at bay, reveals a new report by the Independent.
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This is based on a study conducted by researchers from De Montfort University. They analysed how many snacks women ate after listening to certain kinds of music, in order to see how food and music can help fight negative emotions.
They got 120 women onboard, where they were asked to recall an upsetting event and feel sad. Some women were then asked to listen to music which helped them in releasing anger or sadness, while some weren’t.
Researchers say that those who listened to the music consumed half the amount of unhealthy snacks of what sad women who didn’t listen to music consumed.
The songs of choice included classics like Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black, Eminem’s Mocking and Linkin Park’s In The End.
Women who were made to feel stressed with unsolvable anagrams consumed around 35 percent after listening to music that offered comfort — tracks such as Sam Smith’s Lay Me Down and Coldplay’s Fix You.
Dr Helen Coulthard, an expert in eating behaviour at De Montfort University Leicester (DMU), explained, “If you’re feeling stressed and you’re worried that might lead to eating lots of unhealthy junk food, get your headphones on and listen to some lovely comforting music.”
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Annemieke van den Tol, a music psychologist from the University of Lincoln, and co-author of the study added, “I think the take-home message is if we’re stressed we might have the tendency to do something to make us feel better, and unconsciously we might grab food because it is giving us a positive dopamine, serotonin, boost that makes us feel better. But think about alternatives – like music (which) can equally give you a boost and make you feel better when you’re sad or stressed.”
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