Using music to boost your energy

You may have noticed that I haven’t written anything for over a week now(!)…

Fear not, dear readers, I have not abandoned my dear blog!  Rather, I’ve just been too busy traveling and spending time with my family to blog.  I also have been having trouble getting internet access, especially when I was at my mother’s house.  Unfortunately, I expect that my family will continue to drag me away from my computer up until I’m back in Berlin on January 10th, but I will aim to post at least once every few days in the time being.  I hope that everyone has been enjoying the holiday season.

Now, on to my first entry in way too long! :-)

Last week, I re-discovered an energy tip that seems so obvious now that I feel a little silly mentioning it, but here it is: you can use music to give you an energy boost.  More specifically, playing music can sometimes make dreaded chores or boring, monotonous tasks palatable and even (gasp!) somewhat enjoyable. 

I don’t understand exactly why this works for me, but it does (when I actually bother to use it).

You know how it is: some days you drag yourself out of bed and it seems hard to find the energy to take a shower, not to mention blow dry your hair, get dressed, do your makeup (for girls), and eat a healthy breakfast.  It’s like your whole being cries, “No!  Please don’t make me do that!  I HATE doing that!  I’m soooo tired!  Do we REALLY need to?”  Argh. 

Or, you come home exhausted after a day’s work and collapse in bed for a nap, only to wake up feeling less tired but still drained of energy.  The thought of cooking dinner makes you cringe – hey, even the fastest dinner you can think of takes time and effort and you HATE making dinner (kudos to you if you love it!).  Maybe you should just make a frozen pizza.

Or maybe you should try playing some of your favorite (preferably upbeat) music while you do said dreaded task.  It just might make it a bit more enjoyable and help you to get over that energy lull (or at least keep you out of bed).

This works the best if you really like the music you are listening to and it’s upbeat (i.e. not a ballad or a classical sonata).  Extra points if it’s the sort of music you can’t help jamming to, singing along to, or dancing to. 

It needs to be something you’ll enjoy listening to enough to make whatever you’re doing more enjoyable.  You may just find yourself forgetting about how much you hate to do the dishes – or not, lol, but at least you’ll be singing and dancing around the kitchen (if you’re like me).  You may find that the time doesn’t drag by as much, and that you feel happier.  Double extra points if the music is new and awesome, the sort of music you just can’t stop listening too :-).

Of course, even with music you will still have to drag yourself to start said task, but it might just be a little easier to get started if you add in this factor (assuming that you aren’t doing this already).   

I tried this a long time ago with getting myself to cook dinner or clean the kitchen when I just didn’t think I had the energy to do it, and it worked pretty well, but I didn’t keep it up and then my ipod went missing, so I kind of forgot about this.  I recently re-discovered this when I needed to take a shower before going out to dinner but just wanted to lie in bed.  I decided that I would play some music while I did it, which made the task seem not so daunting, and I ended up having the energy to do my makeup all nice and everything.

I even came up with a way to listen to music when I’m in the shower and getting ready/blow drying my hair/etc. : I just put my laptop on the washer or dryer in the bathroom and use my itunes player on the highest setting.  There you go, music for boring bathroom tasks without a stereo system or speakers in  your bathroom! 

I personally hate taking showers in the morning when it’s cold and I’m tired, but this way I can sing along to music when I’m in the shower, which I think is awesome.

I’m not sure exactly why this works for me but I can take a guess.  My guess is that turning on some music helps improve my mood and gives me something fun and enjoyable to focus on (as opposed to the focus being on how tired I feel and how much I don’t want to do xyz.)  Also, for some reason, listening to upbeat music that I love can make me feel more upbeat and alert and energetic.  I’m sure that somewhere there are studies that show that music can influence not only your mood but also your energy levels, although I didn’t find anything using a quick google search.  I’ll have to keep an eye out for such a study…

Has anyone tried this?  If yes, have you found that what I described works for you?  What do you think?

P.S. Merry belated Christmas to everyone and Happy Holidays!