Having trouble relaxing? Try this new YouTube music trend

Virgin Radio

29 Jan 2021, 17:28

The last 12 months definitely haven't been the most relaxing for many what with the pandemic, working from home, teaching the kids and much more.

It's no surprise then that we're all trying to find new ways to relax. Whether that's taking up a new hobby, baking banana bread, going for long walks or deciding you're going to be the next TikTok star, we've all been keeping busy.

The latest trend has emerged on YouTube and it's using tunes to relax.

YouTube creators are making playlists of classic songs from the 1920s-40s, and they're blending them with sound effects of rain, thunder, and log fires over the top.

When combined together, it makes you feel like you're cuddled up in a cosy room with distant background music. 

Lepreezy is a hugely popular channel of this type. Their bio on the site says they’re ‘passionate about what music can do to us individuals in terms of stress relief, relaxation and concentration’.

Viewers are leaving many comments raving about how much these videos have helped them, singing their praises of great sleep and deep relaxation.

Marianne Rizkallah is the director and head music therapist at North London Music Therapy.

She told Metro why she thinks it's so popular: ‘I think it’s the nostalgia factor of remembering another time as a lot of pre-pandemic times feel like a former life for many people at the moment. ‘There’s a lot to be said for the atmosphere these videos create, an aural sense of intimacy and closeness – the fireplace sound or the soft rain linking our thoughts to times where we had to be inside but felt safe and protected from the wider world outside.’

'Studies show that our hearts can actually regulate to the BPM of music we’re listening to – so if we listen to something with a slightly slower BPM than our current heart rate our hearts can slow to meet the beat,’ she says. ‘Hearing a pulse gives our brain something to hook onto, pace ourselves and organise our thoughts which is all part of regulating the brain and nervous system, both of which music has an effect on.’

Sounds good to us.

Have you tried any of these videos?