Listening to music while eating is an activity that many people enjoy. It can help to set the mood of a meal. It can replace what would otherwise be silence – or chewing noises – with some ambient tunes. If you’re alone, it can help to reduce feelings of boredom or even loneliness during a meal. That said, you might be surprised to hear that choosing the right tunes can also be helpful for sticking to a healthy diet strategy.
Yes, Listening to Music While Eating Impacts Your Diet
Research indicates that listening to music while eating, as is the case with many other types of activities, can produce all sorts of physical and mental changes. After all, hearing the right song can help to improve a bad mood, motivate you to power through a fat burning workout, or keep us focused while we’re working or studying. It can also help to distract us from food cravings or temptations to eat more when we’ve already had enough.
That said, listening to music while eating does more than that. When you play the right songs at the right times, you’ll give yourself an advantage in making smarter food choices and being more satisfied with the meals you select. While the actual results you see will still be dependent on what you end up eating and how much of it you consume, hearing some tunes at mealtime can help to make things easier.
The Benefits of Listening to Music While Eating
The following are some of the top benefits to listening to music while eating when it comes to making sure your diet is healthy and nutritious.
1 – Relieves Stress While Boosting Reward Sensation
Anyone who has found themselves able to break away from a very stressful day by getting lost in a song – blasting it into headphones or singing loudly in the car, for example – will not be surprised that stress relief is a benefit of listening to great songs. However, what may come as a surprise is that this same effect helps to boost our reward sensation and that this applies to healthy eating.
By playing some upbeat songs at a low to moderate volume, you can improve your mood at mealtime, ease your stress levels, and scale back food cravings. This can make it easier for you to avoid binging on foods out of your emotional state. To get the most benefit from listening to music while eating, turn on the tunes well before you sit down. Play the songs while you choose and prepare your foods too. If you feel hungry at a time when you’re not ready for a meal or snack, let the songs help you to choose whether you really should have something and what you should have if you do.
2 – Provides a Distraction
Listening to music while you’re eating is helpful, but so is playing songs at times when all you can think about is food. This includes while you’re at the grocery store! By distracting you from all the tempting foods on the shelves, you can use songs to make it easier to stick to your list. That way, you won’t end up with so many foods in your home that don’t align with your healthy diet. At the same time, you’ll save money on your grocery bill!
3 – Slows Your Chewing
Listening to music while eating can help to slow down the pace at which you chew, giving your body more of a chance to register when it feels full. It takes around 20 minutes for the stomach to send a fullness signal to the brain. Unfortunately, most of us wolf down our food far faster than that. By choosing slower tunes at dinnertime, you’ll be more likely to move at a slower pace and give your body more of a chance to know when it’s had enough. This will allow you to be naturally satisfied by less food every day.
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