Science says holiday music is bad for your mental health

Dec 6, 2017

Members of a Christmas band (L-R) Carmelo, Giuseppe and Michele take a break in Rome December 12, 2006. For six years, five musicians from the southern Italian town of Fracagnano have been coming to Rome to play Christmas songs in the streets, asking for donations from people who peer out of the window as they hear their music. Only one, Michele, has a fulltime job. REUTERS/Dario Pignatelli (ITALY) - GM1DUDLOWIAA

Hearing "Jingle Bells" for the millionth time can lead to annoyance, boredom, and even distress. Image: REUTERS/Dario Pignatelli

Melody Wilding

Social worker, The City University of New York

Our Impact

The Big Picture

Explore and monitor how Mental Health is affecting economies, industries and global issues

A hand holding a looking glass by a lake

Crowdsource Innovation

Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale

Stay up to date:

Mental Health

Have you read?

Image: Science Daily

Don't miss any update on this topic

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

The Agenda Weekly

A weekly update of the most important issues driving the global agenda

Subscribe today

You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in our emails. For more details, review our privacy policy.

More on Mental Health
See all

Pills alone can’t treat HIV in adolescents. They need psychological support, too

Sarah Bernays and Nicola Willis

December 1, 2023

What's 'holistic health' and how does it relate to improved performance at work?

Charlotte Edmond

November 27, 2023

WHO declares loneliness a health threat, and other health stories you need to know this week

Shyam Bishen

November 23, 2023

This man is on a mission to cure paralysis in our lifetime. Here’s his story

Ewan Thomson

November 20, 2023

1:25

Flexible working boosts heart health, Harvard study finds

Why creating a psychologically safe workplace is key to high performance in uncertain times

Dustin Seale

November 9, 2023