Great news for all Grinches everywhere: too much Christmas music is bad for our mental health, according to a clinical psychologist.
Turns out, yes Christmas songs actually limit our thinking and we are unable to think of anything but the joys of Christmas. Psychologist Linda Blair he says that continuous listening to songs like Santa Claus is Coming to Town, among others, could also have negative impact on our brain. "People who work in shopping centers at Christmas time have to turn off the Christmas music because otherwise they can't concentrate on anything else," she told Sky News. "They spend all their energy trying to overhear what they're listening to."
A study from 2005 notes that the right balance between songs and holiday scents it has a positive effect on the environment in shopping centers and thus makes consumers happier. That also means yes people spend more in stores.
Eric Spangenberg, who studied the impact of holiday music on consumption, states that some tracks more effective like others. Slower beats slow buyers down, which means they will stayed longer in the mall, and because of the faster rhythms, they are consequently faster.
