Why you love (or love to hate) Christmas music – 11/28/2023 – Science

It’s been just over a year since the Backstreet Boys released their Christmas album, “A Very Backstreet Christmas,” and Francine Biondo has been listening to it on repeat ever since.

To be fair, Biondo, 39, who takes care of children in Ontario, Canada, is a Nick Carter fan and maybe even an even bigger fan of Christmas music. In mid-November, the Christmas season was in full swing for her and she had plans to decorate a tree. Although she typically starts listening to Christmas music after Halloween, she has been known to dole out some Christmas greetings during the summer — which in the northern hemisphere runs from June to September.

“It puts me in a happy, joyful state of mind,” she said over the phone about songs like Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” adding that the songs bring back happy memories of her childhood.

For Biondo, songs do more than put her in the Christmas spirit; they also increase your productivity.

“I need music to help me get through the day,” she said. “I listen to it when I’m cleaning the house and doing everyday things. It helps motivate me. And with Christmas music, especially this time of year, it’s more fun.”

She may be right.

According to Daniel Levitin, an author and musician in Los Angeles and professor emeritus of psychology and neuroscience at McGill University in Montreal, research has shown that most people in Western countries use music to calm themselves.

“They know there are certain types of music that will put them in a good mood. Christmas music is a reliable option for many of them.”

The benefits of music have been studied for a long time. Levitin participated in a 2013 study that concluded that music strengthens the body’s immune system and reduces stress.

Levitin stated that hearing music that hasn’t been heard in a long time can transport a person back in time.

“That’s the power of music: to evoke a memory,” he said. “With these memories come emotions and possibly nostalgia, or anger or frustration, depending on your childhood.”

For people who find joy in Christmas music, the brain can increase serotonin levels and release prolactin, a calming, soothing hormone that is released between mothers and babies during breastfeeding, Levitin explained.

On the other hand, if negative memories and feelings are associated with Christmas, the same songs can cause the brain to release cortisol, the stress hormone that increases heart rate, and trigger the amygdala, the fear center of the brain.

“There are a lot of people who, when Christmas comes around, just want to run home, put their head under the covers and wait it all out,” Levitin said.

Christmas music, like all forms of music, is powerful. But this genre is perhaps more potent than other forms of music because the holiday season itself is emotionally charged. It represents the ideals that most human beings seek, such as equality, tolerance, love and tranquility.

“For some of us, it’s an inspirational message,” Levitin said. “For others, it just highlights how far we are from achieving that.”

Christmas music sung to celebrate the winter solstice has been around for thousands of years, some even predating Christianity, according to Alisa Clapp-Itnyre, an English professor at Indiana University East. These songs were sung in communal and secular settings, and as early as the third century, Christianity adapted Yule festivals to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Then stories of Jesus were woven into Christmas carols, which were still sung in community settings, even across class divides.

“During the dark winter months, it brought people together for celebration and generosity,” Clapp-Itnyre said, adding that it still happens today in various forms, such as holding donation drives for the Salvation Army and singing Christmas carols. in nursing homes.

In the 20th century, Christmas songs such as “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” and “White Christmas” began to reflect the suffering people were experiencing and brought comfort, especially to World War II soldiers who could not be at home. at Christmas.

“These songs are becoming popular during war because people are looking for something traditional, something that they used to know of family and peace and these good traditions, even when their whole world is being ripped to pieces,” Clapp-Itnyre said.

The positive feelings associated with Christmas music are something Vanessa Parvin, owner of Manhattan Holiday Carolers, a holiday entertainment company, knows well. Parvin, 45, has been singing Christmas music professionally since 1999.

Part of the joy, she said, is “contributing to other people’s magical, nostalgic experience during the holidays,” which might mean honoring requests for songs that remind guests of their childhoods or deceased relatives.

Although she has a memorized repertoire of about 90 Christmas songs, there is one that evokes memories of her own family.

“‘O Little Town of Bethlehem’ was my grandmother’s favorite, so it doesn’t make me think about humming,” she said. “It makes me think of my grandmother and my mother.”