Baylor University Study Proved Earworms Occur Even During Sleep Periods

While most people turn to music as a form of relaxation, usually as a sleep inducing, going-to-bed ritual, a study shows doing so produces the opposite effect. A recent scientific survey and lab study performed by researchers at Baylor University investigated the correlation between sleep and music, with particular focus on involuntary musical imagery known as “earworms.”

Earworms usually happen when one is awake, but occurrence is also possible while sleeping. The phenomenon can be described as those instances when a tune or song gets “stuck” in a person’s mind.

Earworms Lead to Poor Sleep Quality

According to lead researcher, Michael Scullin, Ph.D. whose core specialization is the study of sleep, our brains still process music when we’re slumbering; and even if the music we are listening to has stopped playing. While it cannot be disputed that listening to good music is very enjoyable, Professor Scullin contends that a person is more likely to get an earworm during sleep time.

To many who find it difficult to catch a much needed sleep, getting an “earworm” can be most annoying.

Actually many suffer from earworms, once or twice a week and the experience often results to having poor sleep quality. Quite surprisingly, instrumental music and not the lyrical ones have the most potential to cause earworms that negatively affect sleep quality. This particular revelation clearly opposes common recommendations of listening to calming musical instruments.

How the Occurrence of Earworm Syndrome During Sleep was Proven?

The study analyzed data gathered through a laboratory experiment and from a series of surveys that involved 209 participants. The surveys included questions concerning each individual’s music listening habits, the frequency of experiencing earworms, and the quality of their sleep.

The laboratory experimental study, on the other hand, involved 50 participants, on whom the research team intentionally caused earworms by making listen to certain types of music.

To observe how the earworms affected sleep quality of the 50 participants, individual recordings of brain waves, breathing, heart rate, and etc., were documented while they were sleeping. The comprehensive test was performed using an instrument called polysomnography.

The conclusion that earworms do affect sleep negatively, was partly confirmed by participants’ responses to questionnaires. Some indicated that they normally wake up in the middle of the night, others say they have difficulty in catching asleep, while some others experience light stages of sleep for longer durations.

Professor Scullin said that the lab experiment revealed similar findings on the 50 participants. Those who experienced sleep earworm had more movement in brain activities while asleep, which is considered as a sign of memory reactivations. The gradual increase of slow back and forth movements in brain activities were found in the region associated with the primary auditory cortex. The latter is the same brain area, where earworms are processed when a person is awake.

Based on the results of the study, the Baylor University researchers recommend for people to take breaks if earworms are affecting you and the quality of your sleep. Moreover, they also mentioned the importance not listening to music before sleeping.

Lastly, one must take part in cognitive activity in order to effectively eliminate earworms, which can be achieved by completely focusing on a task that will divert the brain’s attention from the earworm.

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How Travel Experience Gets Better With Music

When gearing up for a lengthy road trip, many travelers place a high priority on compiling songs for a playlist and ensuring they need the most effective tunes to concentrate on along the way.

Traveler wearing headphones boarding a train

 

In addition to road trips, though, there are several other ways during which music plays a job within the travel experience, on top of not experiencing roadside problems (where you need road assistance such as towing San Jose). Music and travel go hand in hand in additional ways than one might realize.

Laura Fernandez, the top of Travel + Tourism advertising business for SiriusXM and its brands Pandora, SoundCloud, and Stitcher, recently shared findings from a survey the corporate conducted, The Pandora Traveler Mindset, so as to induce a far better understanding of things like how confident people are to travel and where are they traveling. She explained the survey was also some way to tie music and travel together.

“What we found is, music and travel definitely go hand in hand. But we found that 77 percent of our listeners find music and other audio content … are considered to be a good travel companion,” Fernandez shared. “Seventy-three percent of our listeners find music to enhance their overall travel experience.”

This shouldn’t only do with being attentive to music while traveling but also listening for inspiration before the trip or during the design process. It also includes traveling to a selected destination for music within a variety of concerts and festivals.

 

ALSO READ: Tips When Starting an Online Music Store

 

In several destinations, including Nashville, Austin, and Las Vegas, music plays an immense role in the experience for tourists. Many travelers will book entire trips around a concert or show, and it’s a requirement to own playlists surrounding the holiday theme. Fernandez points out that music can aid in setting the tone for a vacation.“Sixty-six percent of listeners think music sets the mood and vibe for his or her leisure trip,” she said, explaining that this could are available the shape of paying attention to music during a plane ride or on a drive to a destination or perhaps while planning the trip and thinking of memories from the trip afterward.

Another interesting discovery from the survey is what percentage of listeners find music to be a source for calming.

“Sixty-seven percent of our Pandora listeners find music to be a stress anxiety reliever,” Fernandez shared, adding that that being attentive to music is true up there with other self-care activities like going for a walk, being outside, cooking, etc. where visual media isn’t accessible.

The findings from the Pandora research study clearly show more often than not travelers incorporate music in a method or another during their travel experience.

 

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July 6, 2021

Tow Tributes : Making a Unified Call for Motorists to Respect Move Over Laws

Although predatory tow truck operators give the towing industry a bad rep, the majority of the general public think of tow truck drivers as unsung heroes. Apparently, they refer to the tow truck drivers who quickly respond to calls for roadside assistance, which could be a stressful and dangerous situation. During annual celebrations of the National Move Over Day in the month of October, tow truck drivers are among the group of first responders honored in recognition of the valuable services they provide to Americans.

Actually the annual celebrations also serves as reminders of the “Move Over” laws introduced several years ago. The laws requires motorists to slow down and change lanes as soon as they see the yellow arrows and flashing light warnings. The rules aim to provide emergency responders a safe space between them and oncoming motorists during emergency operations.

The need to codify the road rule became necessary because every year, a growing number of first responders working along highways are killed by motorists who do not slow down. Ignoring the laws endanger the lives of medical emergency crews, ambulances, firefighters, law enforcement officers and tow truck drivers while at work in emergency situations.

However, as it became apparent that many vehicle drivers are still not aware of such laws, part of the campaigns launched to raise the public’s awareness over the Move Over laws is the holding of the National Move Over Day.

In California, non-compliance with the state’s Mover Over law can result to payment of fines of up to $1,000 in addition to becoming a blight in the erring motorist’s driving record.

Tow Tributes for Fallen Truck Drivers

In many states, it is common for the towing industry to organize a separate tow tribute in paying final respect to fallen tow truck drivers. One of the most memorable tow tributes held in the history of America’s towing industry was the one held in Massachusetts in 2018.

The Massive Tow Tribute Held for a Tow Truck Driver in Massachusetts

In 2018, a massive tow tribute was held for tow truck driver Daniel Coady Jr., who was killed while rendering road assistance. Only 41 years old and a father of two young children, Coady was hit by a female DUI driver, while he was hooking up a car that became disabled while on the Interstate 495 in Andover.

After Coady’s funeral, more than 600 tow truck drivers, joined by a hundred others, including state troopers, police officers, firefighters, descended at the parking lot of North Andover Mall to pay tribute. Tow truck drivers present were from competitor towing companies of all sizes and types hauling, from small, to medium to heavy duty towing services. They all agree that when something happens to one of their own, they come together not as competitors but as brothers.

A representative of the state police reminded the people about the importance of slowing down once they see the yellow flashing lights at a far distance. However, some tow truck drivers say that some people do not find a need to slow down when they see tow truck drivers at work, simply because they do not respect the towing profession. Not a few shared experiences of getting hit by vehicles or of getting “skimmed” by motorists who insists on going by.

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July 4, 2021

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Tricks in Finding the Best Guitar Teacher

It is possible to learn to play a guitar by watching YouTube or visiting websites that can show you a lot of things. On the other hand, having an actual instructor can make a huge difference to your learning progress. With a good teacher on your side, you are certain to avoid bad practices, learn faster and also, learn things you would not know on your own.

Teaching Guitar Lessons

Every Guitar is Unique

The thing is, guitar instructors have unique characteristics. There are some who are teaching guitar lessons as a way to make ends meet. Then again, some are naturally born with remarkable skills but is lacking of teaching skills. Then, there are those who hit the right balance in teaching and understand what you should know and need.

So how you can find a guitar teacher just like the latter? There are few points that must be checked and this includes:

  • Great teaching skills, which is important than any other guitar skills your instructor would have
  • Constantly study new teaching strategies and methods to help its students learn faster. Simply speaking, a real passion for teaching
  • Is into the same music genre or style as you
  • Specializing in music that you wishes to learn
  • Experience
  • Personable because at the end of the day, no matter how good your teacher is, if you can’t connect with them, you’ll have a hard time to learn

If you’d be able to find a teacher that meets the majority of the points mentioned, then there is a good chance that you’ll have a wonderful experience.

What to avoid when Hiring a Guitar Teacher?

Every instructor will try claiming that they can provide you with the best lessons. With each teacher doing so, it becomes difficult to find out who is really good and not. Here are some red flags to not fall into their tricks.

Claiming to Teach all Styles

There is nobody who is an expert in every music style and genre. Guitar instructors who are claiming that they could teach anything must be avoided at all costs.

Withholding Lesson Information and Rates

There are some who will not be publishing their rates on their page. The reason why is because, it helps them to convince you to join for their lessons. Withholding information is pretty common among teachers who are not confident in things that they can offer.

Read More Tricks in Finding the Best Guitar Teacher
July 3, 2021

Everything You must Know before Betting on eSports

It should not come as a surprise that there are thousands of people who love betting on eSports players and teams. Needless to say, if you have made a bet on football before, eSports similar to FIFA is pretty straightforward to bet on. To give you an example, since FIFA eWorld Cup came to existence, there has been countless of betting sites that tried to make betting on this tournament be as popular as the real world.

Other Game Titles to Bet on eSports

Annually, there appears to be another game that is set to become the newest eSport sensation. From Heartstone to Player Unknown Battlegrounds, there is always something new that can be taken on eSports to bet on. Whether you wish to keep it simple with classic Street Fighter V bets or want to go something deeper such as on StarCraft II, there is something that fits your preferences.

Hosted eSports Tournaments

The world of eSports houses some of the largest sporting events in terms of viewership, prize pool and attendance. This is something that even regular gambling games and casino games like gratis gewinnspiele can’t match. Respectable eSports betting site isn’t just going to cover the majority of the tournaments but also, will be offering betting options on smaller tournaments as well as e-leagues worldwide.

In relation to viewership, League of Legends World Championship is pretty huge with almost 4 million viewers watching. Likewise, the likes of Intel Extreme Masters Katowice and Fortnite World Cup all have viewer attendance that reaches millions easily. But with regards to prize pool as well as betting interest, there is one game that rules them all, which is DOTA 2’s premier event. It is popularly known as “The International” which generated an immense $34.3 million prize pool back in 2019.

Betting on eSports

The moment that you have decided to bet on eSports, the next thing that you ought to do is to search for the best and top eSports betting site. There is a huge list of gambling sites online that are now facilitating eSports betting from the traditional bookmakers similar to Betway and Bet365 to dedicated eSports betting sites similar to GG.Bet and ArcaneBet.

Some of the betting sites are even focusing on the most popular competitions for CS:GO, LoL and DOTA 2 whereas some of the dedicated betting eSport sites have constant range of eSports live betting odds and prematch to offer more niche games.

Read More Everything You must Know before Betting on eSports
July 3, 2021