Our hearts beat in time to the soundscape we’re in, and changing the pace at which our hearts are beating is integral to influencing our mood. Faster sounds, whether music or otherwise, energize us, while slower ones calm us. Fast-paced music in a major key makes us feel high in energy and in a good mood, while slower music in a minor key has the opposite effect. We even walk faster when we hear music with more beats per minute. Relaxing music has between 50 and 70 beats per minute, and very relaxing songs like lullabies have 30 to 50 or so beats per minute. Songs with 100 to 130 beats per minute energize us. Not sure how many beats per minute are in the music you enjoy? Google “beats per minute” to find one of the websites that provides exactly this sort of information.
People’s brains do their best knowledge-type work when they’re in a space where the noise has been cut to a quiet background hum that reminds them they’re not the last person on the planet but the words other people are saying aren’t clear or loud enough to be understood; this is similar to a relatively quiet office while wearing headphones but not listening to music or anything else through them.
White noise blocks distracting background sounds, while pink noise calms us. Examples of each of these kinds of noise are available online at Wikipedia, and each can be added to a space via online services, as well. White noise has been shown to boost our cognitive performance compared to how well our brains usually work when listening to office type noise.
If white or pink noise, which get their names because of the patterns in their sound waves, seem a little institutional to you, there are other options. It’s psychologically better to listen to music you like than music you don’t like, but if the people who use a space have very different music preferences, go with classical, nonvocal music, as it’s universally positively—well, or at least not negatively—received. Scientists have also learned that when we hear the sorts of birdcalls, gentle water movements, and rustling wind noises found in a temperate zone meadow on a lovely spring day, we immediately feel calmer. These sounds also help us restock our mental processing power after we’ve depleted it doing knowledge work. Playing nature sounds may sound silly, but it’s proven effective in a range of spaces, from doctor’s waiting rooms to workplaces to living rooms. Restful and rejuvenating meadow soundtracks are available online.
Don’t try to create a place that’s completely quiet or quieter than we’d expect—that’s just as unnerving to humans as one that’s too noisy. Concentrate instead on having the right sorts of sounds fill a space, the ones that help you create desired moods.
The soundscape in your home can, and should, be actively managed. What sounds do you like to hear? Birds singing? Street vendors from Marrakesh? Mozart? The sounds outside your home? Are you one of the few people who isn’t driven crazy by the sound of wind chimes? Set up a sound system so you can listen to what you enjoy hearing when you’re hanging around at home. Modify your soundscapes so that being inside your home is a different experience in the morning, afternoon, and evening, and at different times of the year.
Scents
Rigorous scientific research has linked particular scents to certain psychological states. It is possible to disperse aromas through a space in multiple ways. Essential oils can be wicked into the air, for example, and scent dispensers can be incorporated into HVAC systems with a professional’s assistance.
Smelling pleasant scents has been shown to boost mood.
The scents listed below have their noted effects whether the people smelling them are aware of them or not; the effects linger after the smell fades from perception. The amount of any smell that should to be added to a space needs to be determined via a straightforward onsite experiment, because things like window drafts, exact room volumes, and how well a ventilation system works all have a dramatic effect on whether a particular amount of an odor can be smelled. To conduct the required experiment: dispense a very small amount of an odor into a space. If anyone who enters the area mentions the smell, the amount used needs to be reduced. Ask people who come by about their experiences of being in the space, and cut back the amount of scent in use if it is brought up. Even at the same concentration in the air, some scents are more pungent than others, so each scent needs to be tested individually.
•Smelling pleasant scents has been cross-culturally shown to boost mood. As discussed earlier, when we’re in a more positive mood, we’re better at problem-solving, thinking creatively, and getting along with others. Pleasant smells reduce stress, and unpleasant smells have the reverse effect.
•If a place is pleasantly scented, we feel we have spent less time there and that it is larger than if the space is unscented.
•A pleasantly scented space seems cleaner and brighter.
•We linger in spaces that smell good to us.
•Smelling scents we link to cleanliness has been linked to better behavior and following rules.
•We are also fairer and more generous in spaces that smell “clean” to us, with clean smells being the scents used in cleaning products in our culture. North Americans associate the distinctive smell of Windex with cleanliness, for example. So, cleaning up before company arrives pays off in more ways than you might have thought.
Scientists have also investigated the implications of smelling particular scents:
•Aromas that have been tied to lower anxiety levels include sweet orange (this refers to the oranges we eat), floral scents (particularly hyacinth and jasmine), and vanilla. The smell of ylang-ylang seems calming.
•Relaxing scents include lemon, mango, and lavender.
•Scents linked to increased alertness: peppermint, common garden sage, and rosemary; coffee countered the effects of sleep deprivation in rats.
•Energizing scents are grapefruit, tangerine, eucalyptus, and peppermint.
•The scent of lavender is linked to helping encourage sleep.
•Scents that boost cognitive performance: cinnamon and vanilla; creativity is linked to coffee (even if no caffeine is actually present or coffee consumed) as well as lemon.
•Scents linked to improved memory function: rosemary, peppermint, and common garden sage.
•Scvclerical type work include chocolate and coffee.
•The scent of lemon is linked to improving mood while doing knowledge work.
•Lavender is also linked to trusting other people.
Since scents are tested one at a time in labs, the research supports using a single scent in a space.
Certain smells are particularly important to each of us emotionally. You can’t change your responses to those scents, so use them to your advantage. If you have relaxing associations with the smell of something, use it to scent your bedroom or wherever else you’d like to feel relaxed, whether this text mentions it or not. If you don’t like smelling a scent because you have negative associations with it—maybe your mean Aunt Joan’s house smelled like lemon, so you dislike the smell of lemons to this day—then don’t use those scents in your home or office, no matter what research has said about them. Scent associations can’t be overcome, they just are.
Some people avoid scenting spaces because of allergies. Natural scents can be replaced by artificial ones to overcome this problem. Various brands of artificial scents are made with different ingredients, so you should be able to find one that doesn’t trigger whatever allergies are present.
Smelling the same odor in different places or different times when you’ll be working on a project puts you in the same mindset in these places and times and helps call the same project-related thoughts and details to consciousness in each space and time,