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This is the fourth blog post in a seven-part blog series, Seven Simple Solutions to Smarter, Less Stressed Kids. Each post contains one new solution to help families grow together and help improve academic performance.

DID YOU KNOW?

Music is a bridge between our right and left hemispheres. When accompanied by music, our behavior becomes relaxed and our minds respond as if we’re memory whizzes.

Jannalea Hoffman, a music therapist from the University of Kansas, found that music can help students do better on tests.  She created a Baroque piece of music that followed slow sound patterns and played it as background music for a group of nursing students taking a test; the control group did not hear the music. Hoffman found that those listening to the music had lower heart rates and higher test scores than the control group.

In my upcoming book, Smart for Life, I write about how Baroque music in particular helps. Because Baroque music moves at 60 beats per minute, it operates as a meditation, and relaxes your brain through scynopation. The music essentially expands the brain, and allows you to use the brain like an orchestra.

SIMPLE SOLUTION

Make Baroque or classical music the background soundtrack in your home.

MAKE IT YOUR OWN

• Start early. If you have a baby, play Baroque music during bath times, meal times, and before nap times.

• Play Baroque music while your child is doing homework.

• If your older children protest the idea of Baroque or classical music, begin gently by playing it while cooking dinner or cleaning the house. Keep it on in the background at home as much as possible.