What is earworm and how can it relate to sleep issues?
Earworm is when a portion of a song loops in your head over and over again. Most people will experience this but for 2/3 of those people, they find it a neutral or positive experience. 1/3 find it a negative experience. Earworm can add to one’s arousal level which can make it harder to get some sleep.
What makes you susceptible to earworm?
Certain personality traits make one more likely to experience earworm. Out of the big five personality traits, those that have more neuroticism and openness may be more likely to experience earworm. Also, certain songs are constructed in a way that biohacks our attentional networks.
How is earworm treated?
For many people, it’s not an issue and it doesn’t register much attention. For these people, there is usually little arousal created by earworm and so, little influence on one’s sleep. Exploring the ability to adopt acceptance of earworm may neutralize its stickiness. Trying to block it out or avoiding thinking about it doesn’t seem to work. Try not thinking about pink elephants for the next minute? It’s harder to do than it sounds and that’s because of the psychological principle known as Ironic Processing Theory. This basically says that if you try to block thinking about something, you will tend to think more about it because it has your attention.
Ultimately, changing the earworm experience depends on the mechanism of your earworm. Here are some mechanisms of earworm to consider and their corresponding treatments:
1. OCD
For those with OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder), treating the OCD can help manage earworm. This usually involves pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy like Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.
2. Incomplete Processing
Dr. Bluma Zeignarik (1927) found that you’re more likely to remember the details of a movie if you don’t finish the ending. Like that, if parts of the song are stuck in your head, it may be because you need to process the rest of the song to get it “unstuck”. You can try processing the song by singing out loud with it, or having more familiarity with it so that it doesn’t occupy as much of your attention.
3. Coping
For some, earworm is a symptom of a deeper psychological issue. In this case, it can be seen as a messenger. The salient issue may have nothing to do with the song or its lyrics. Identifying the cause of stress will be the first step in identifying the path to its resolution. In the meantime, many people doing another activity that is incompatible with earworm can be helpful in coping. Usually, activities that require some sort of auditory processing (writing, reading, listening) make it easier to displace earworm from your attention.
4. Self-judgement and Reactivity
If you feel like you’re reacting to your earworms in a negative way, cognitive restructuring – like doing a thought record from Cognitive Behavioural Therapy – can help.
What about mindfulness for earworm?
Mindfulness is often recommended for earworm. There are many theoretical reasons why this may be helpful for this. To understand this, one has to understand the neuropsychological changes that happen with regular mindfulness practice. But, briefly, regular mindfulness practice is correlated with greater cognitive flexibility, better attention regulation, less emotional reactivity, more adaptive stress response and empowered self-perception. Some patients may find mindfulness practice problematic, like for example, some PTSD patients may find they are not ready for mindfulness practice. Consider mindfulness under the direction of an experienced and regulated health care professional.