Midnight Attack of the Earworms! How Stuck Songs Sap Sleep

At one point or another, you have had a song stuck in your head. These intrusive melodies, commonly called earworms, can sometimes provide amusement while other times they can be unrelenting annoyances. New research published in the journal Psychological Science reveals, however, that nighttime earworms can have a real negative impact on our quality of sleep, which can eventually lead to a cascading series of problems, such as lack of concentration, changes in appetite, lower work productive, among many others. 

Michael Scullin from Baylor University talks to us about his research examining this phenomenon of sleep-disturbing earworms and how popular tunes can impact our sleep. 


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