[Work environment improvement] We conducted an experiment to see if smells, food, and music affect productivity

Don't you want to increase your productivity? Sorry for the abrupt introduction

This is Koide from the Organizational Culture Committee

This may be a bit sudden, but have you ever finished work and thought, "I just couldn't concentrate today"?

I also constantly worry about my ability to concentrate while workingThere are many days when I work while constantly fighting the drowsiness that comes around lunchtime

In this article, we will share what the Organizational Culture Committee learned and their thoughts after conducting a month-long experiment to see how much smell, food, and music affect concentration

If you feel sleepy during the day or would like to increase the amount of time you can concentrate during the day, please continue reading

(If you just want to see the results, click here )

Do smells, music, and food really improve your concentration?

First of all, why did we decide to conduct an experiment to see if smells, music, and food can improve concentration?The trigger was a curry restaurant owner that our company representative, Haraoka, met on a business trip to Yokohama

The owner of the curry restaurant told us that "the way people work changes depending on the smell, food, and music."

After that, the Organizational Culture Committee was approached with a request for an experiment

I thought, "I see, that sounds interesting, so let's experiment with it in the Organizational Culture Committee!" and so I accepted

However, I wondered, "What does smell, music, and food have to do with concentration in the first place?", so I did some research and found the following papers and articles

How to improve your concentration: The connection between smell and concentration

The key to productivity is food. How to eat to make the most of your day

Music and concentration

It seems likely that these three things are somehow related to concentration...so we decided to conduct an experiment within our company!

Flow of the experiment

First, I will explain the process leading up to the experiment

1: Survey employees about smells, music, and food

We started by conducting a survey of our members to find out what music, scents, and foods are best suited to workdays

The results were as follows (some excerpts):

 

2: Based on the survey results, aromas will be installed and background music will be played, changing weekly

Based on the above survey, we conducted verification using the following combinations

Week 1: Aroma : Lavender Music: Cafe

Second week: Aroma : Woody Music: Ambient sounds

Week 3: Aroma : Mint Music: Silence

Week 4: Aroma : Citrus Music: Jazz/Relaxation

After taking the survey results into consideration, we carefully selected aroma oils that we thought would smell good together with the chairperson of the organizational culture committee

3: Conduct a survey to see if productivity has improved

Week 1: Aroma : Lavender Music: Cafe-style Results

What did you eat for lunch? Onigiri, ramen, salad chicken, meat and salt knot, no meat, etc

Second week: Aroma : Woody Music: Ambient Sounds Results

What did you have for lunch? Rice balls, curry, Indian curry, Nom Shin Shoten , chicken salad, cabbage, etc.

Week 3: Aroma : Mint Music: Silence Results

What did you have for lunch?: Rice balls, salad, gizzards, eating out, fruit, Chinese food, pasta, rice balls, didn't have time to eat, sandwich, salted bread, beef bowl, etc

Week 4: Aroma : Citrus Music: Jazz/Relaxation Results

What did you have for lunch? Rice balls, snack bread, vegetable salad (KOHYO style), rye bread with peanut jam, rice balls and bento, etc

summary

Many people said that silence was the best background music to help them concentrate, and that mint was the best scent to help them concentrate

but

"The lavender scent was very soothing, but I felt more sleepy than usual."

"Mint is great because it makes you feel more alert. I think it creates a sense of tension more than other scents. I feel like it might make you feel a little tired if you use it for a long time."

I heard some people say this, so I thought it would be a good idea to change it every day

Regarding food, the results showed that eating low-carb foods helped me to avoid feeling sleepy in the afternoon

Scents and background music are often a matter of personal preference, but in this study,

Mint × Silent × Low Carb 

This combination resulted in the best ability to concentrate

These are only results obtained within Beyond, so it is possible that different results may be obtained even if similar experiments are conducted

If you're interested, why not try it at home?

See you later