Attention attention!
Loud music while eating supposedly makes you fat!
© blackCAT / Getty Images
This has been shown by several studies. But what is behind it?
Actually, you had firmly resolved to eat a salad with your girlfriend on a date in the evening and to forgo the glass of wine. After all, the resolutions are still fresh and after the feast in December, many of us feel the need to treat our bodies to something good and healthy. Unfortunately, the good intentions are relatively quickly passé as soon as you arrive at the restaurant? Instead, the burger with crispy fries is too tempting after all? Do we know. And to be honest – when do you treat yourself to that? However, studies have found that loud music in restaurants could be to blame for our inability to resist fast food.
Loud music makes us eat junk food
As early as 2018, researchers from the University of South Florida examined the influence music has on our eating behavior in supermarkets and restaurants. They found in their study found that no or only soft music promoted the sale of healthy food, while loud music increased the consumption of unhealthy food. The main reasons for this are that loud music increases our stress and arousal levels, making us more prone to fast food.
The research was carried out in a café in Stockholm by dividing the snacks into healthy, neutral and unhealthy categories. The researchers then played music at a higher or lower volume. When music was played at 70 decibels (db), 52 percent of snacks purchased were unhealthy, compared to 25 percent of healthy items purchased. However, when the music was played at 55 dB, the amount of healthy items purchased rose to 32 percent, while purchases of unhealthy items fell to 42 percent.
The pace also influences our eating habits
But not only the volume, but also the tempo of the music has an influence on our food intake. Researchers from Aarhus University published the results in 2021 your results. The result was: fast music lets us eat faster, slow music slower. At the same time, the experimental group listening to the slower music made the healthier food choices.
Eat healthier without the distractions
Basically, all the studies confirm what nutrition experts have been preaching to us for a long time: eating without distraction, in peace and above all mindfully is healthiest for us. On the one hand, we are much more aware of the taste, but at the same time we also notice when and if we are full. If we concentrate on something else at the same time, we often eat more than we need. After all, the bag of chips in front of the television empties much faster than expected.