How Does Music Influence Lunchtime?

Music influences our emotional state, while emotions influence many of our behaviors; one of them, food intake. But, how does music influence lunchtime? Does it really have some kind of effect?

Do you think we eat more with relaxing or stimulating music? Can music influence our food choices? What does science say about it? We will tell you!

How does music influence lunchtime?

There are studies that indicate the influence that music can have on people’s behavior when it comes to eating in a restaurant (or at home). It influences the speed at which we eat, the time we spend on each dish, or the overall experience.

We have more appetite when we relax

In relation to this, researchers from the University of Arkansas studied how music influences when we eat in a restaurant. For the study they used four styles of music: jazz, classical music, rock and hip-hop, in addition to foods considered “

Or does relaxation take away our hunger?

However, there is another study that defends the opposite. Conducted by researchers at the University of Aarhus (Denmark), published in the scientific journal Appetite , it states that relaxing music could influence us to eat less. According to the study, listening to slower and softer melodies would make us eat less.

We eat more when we are stimulated

However, not only the increased appetite would cause people to eat more, but also the impulsiveness or “rush” to eat. This is stated by another study, published in  Psychological Reports, which showed how interesting it could be for the restaurant, in terms of encouraging the consumption or the request of certain dishes, to choose the music well.

According to the researchers, a more loaded environment would predispose us to eat more . Why? Because they are encouraged or “encouraged” to eat faster. On the other hand, if the climate in the restaurant produced by the music is relaxed, this would make the diners feel more relaxed as well and as a consequence, they would spend more time enjoying their food. Thus, it would be people who would eat less.

Music influences food choices

How music influences mealtime could also depend on the volume of the music, according to another study, published in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Sciences. More specifically, the study suggests that low-volume music makes us eat better because we make better food choices.

In addition, the study also states that loud music increases stimulation and stress, leading to unhealthy and comforting food choices.

Useful in the restaurant sector?

How Music Influences Mealtime allows us to realize that emotions are influenced by music and that music can influence how we eat. Perhaps it is a good idea for restaurants to take all of this into account to optimize their services and products, and this is suggested by Isidro Sánchez-Crespo, CEO of The Sensory Lab , a sensory marketing and audiovisual solutions installation company closely related to all this that we discussed.

Sánchez-Crespo affirms that ” many catering establishments have already taken action, equipping themselves with the necessary technology to provide memorable experiences through music, notably strengthening their relationship with the customer.”

Be that as it may, it is clear that music influences the way we eat. As studies claim, it can make us eat more or less, faster or slower, healthier or not, etc.

Although there are studies that contradict each other, as in all themes, the truth is that music conditions our emotions, behavior and state of mind. And emotions, for their part, often guide our behavior, one of them eating behavior.