This is why listening to Christmas music could be bad for your mental health
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- Megan Murray
- Published
Press pause on that Christmas playlist, we’ve got an important festive announcement to make.
Whether it’s a friend, colleague or sibling, we all know someone who fits into the ‘overly festive’ bracket.
You know the kind of person we’re talking about: the first leaves of autumn have barely touched the ground before said merriment-spreader has started researching the best pubs for mulled wine, written up their Christmas list and set a date to watch Love Actually.
But the most obvious sign of an overly festive person has to be the humming, playing or even requesting of Christmas songs too early in the year.
If you strongly believe that rocking around the Christmas tree should be saved for after 1 December, you’ll probably have debated this topic until you’re red in the nose. But according to a clinical psychologist, you’re not being a Scrooge if you ask for Jingle Bells to be banned from the office Spotify: you may just be trying to preserve your own mental health.
Christmas music: to play or not to play?
Speaking to Sky News, Linda Blair explains that listening to repetitive Christmas music can cause issues ranging from irritation to anxiety.
“Christmas music is likely to irritate people if it’s played too loudly and too early,” Blair says.
Describing the emotions these kinds of tunes can evoke in us, she says: “It might make us feel that we’re trapped – it’s a reminder that we have to buy presents, cater for people, organise celebrations.”
According to Blair, people working in retail are the worst affected over the seasonal period, because they’re likely to hear the same playlists played over and over again.
“People working in shops at Christmas have to learn how to tune out of Christmas music – because if they don’t, it really does make you unable to focus on anything else. You’re simply spending all your energy trying not to hear what you’re hearing,” she says.
If that doesn’t dampen your Christmas spirit for at least another month, this anti-advent calendar should do the trick.
Bah humbug, eh?
Main image: Rex Features