Why Does a Song Get Stuck in Your Head & How to Banish it

Music is constantly playing at my job, so I get songs stuck in my head everyday. I'm probably responsible for playing some of the songs that get stuck in your head, if you listen weekday mornings on Lite Rock 96.9 WFPG.

Thanks for listening and I hope you like the songs stuck in your head and I'm not just driving you crazy!

Some of those songs that get stuck in my head I like and some I really don't. It doesn't seem to matter. It's very random and very hard to shake sometimes. So why does it happen and how can I stop it?

How It Works Magazine has rounded up some experts to provide the answer to one of life's little mysteries.

WHY DO SONGS GET STUCK IN OUR HEADS AND HOW DO WE BANISH THEM?

Hearing a song played on a loop inside our own brain is very common. These songs, called earworms, fall into the same category as spontaneous recollections of memories and mind wandering that seems to be beyond our control.

One of the most popular ways to deal with an earworm seems to be just to leave it alone; enjoy the song and allow the thought to pass. If that fails, distracting yourself or listening to it in real life to get the loop out of your head.

The more we focus on whether our attempts to get rid of the song have worked, the more the brain is likely to go back to looping the song again. Researchers have found that chewing gum may help because the jaw movement interferes with memory.

Source: How It Works Magazine