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- Clinical psychologist Linda Blair says listening to Christmas music too early into the holiday season may affect mental health by triggering feelings of stress. Hearing a Christmas song can spark thoughts of all the things you have to do before the holiday, like shopping, party planning and traveling.
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The holiday tunes are fine, but experts say listening to too much Christmas music or hearing it too early can cause anxiety and depression.
As soon as the little ghosts and goblins are tucked into bed on Halloween night, it seems a switch flips and Christmas lights spring up like eager buds at springtime.
Thanksgiving? What’s that?
The November holiday has little room to roam between the haunts of Halloween and the jingling bells of Christmas.
Indeed, it seems the marketing ploys start pushing jolly old Saint Nicholas as soon as the Halloween candy is on clearance.
This phenomenon, known as Christmas Creep, means stores are playing holiday tunes earlier and earlier.
Christmas music may be like a sort of opening bell to the holiday season.
“The songs actually trigger a countdown clock in our minds and can cause stress and anxiety about the number of items we need to complete before December 25th,” said Scott Dehorty, a licensed certified social worker and the executive director at Maryland House Detox, a treatment center in Linthicum Heights, Maryland.
“Instead of feeling warm feelings of family and giving,” he told Healthline, “it can trigger thoughts of how many people we need to shop for, party planning, traveling, seeing relatives we may not want to see, and all sort of negative feelings.”
Indeed, the Tampa Bay Times reports that Best Buy strikes the first chord on the Christmas compositions in stores on October 22.
Soon after that, on November 1, major brands like Sears, Michaels, and Lane Bryant follow.
From there, others start trickling in the tunes through November.
The threat to sanity is especially strong for retail and seasonal workers who dish out holiday cheer despite the steady stream of stressed shoppers.
“People working in the shops at Christmas have to learn how to tune it out,” Blair said, “because if they don’t, it really does make you unable to focus on anything else. You simply are spending all your energy trying not to hear what you’re hearing.”
Kate Chapman, now a holistic medicine specialist, worked as Mrs. Claus in the Radio City Christmas Spectacular every holiday season from 2001 to 2006.
“I lived with a never-ending loop of holiday tunes and ‘Ho, Ho, Ho’ running through my brain,” she told Healthline.
For Chapman, the Christmas Creep started before Halloween each year, when rehearsals for the iconic Broadway shows began.
“I arrived each day and heard Christmas music spilling out from every room I passed,” she recalled. “The Rockettes rehearsed their numbers again and again and again, providing an endless loop of ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ or ‘Christmas in New York.’ I sang and danced for hours each day, immersed in the world of Mrs. Claus. Christmas consumed me, day in, day out, until our opening before Thanksgiving.”
Chapman’s realization of her role in the holiday festivities may have helped her retain some level of composure through the physical and emotional demands.
That clarity, Dehorty says, is precisely the perspective we all need to help us maintain stability in the hectic holiday season.
“While it’s difficult to not listen to Christmas music as you are out and about, you don’t have to enjoy it,” Dehorty says. “One issue is that we all feel like we should be enjoying the music and atmosphere — you don’t. Make the holiday what you want and enjoy it. Make it about giving or volunteering for those in need. Start new traditions you look forward to.”
In fact, if you relish the opportunity to cover your house in lights and garlands, then embrace it.
People who decorate for the holidays early may actually be happier than people who wait or don’t decorate at all, Steve McKeown, a British psychoanalyst, told UNILAD.
“In a world full of stress and anxiety, people like to associate to things that make them happy, and Christmas decorations evoke those strong feelings of childhood,” McKeown said. “Decorations are simply an anchor or pathway to those old childhood magical emotions of excitement, so putting up those Christmas decorations early extends the excitement.”
Nov 11, 2023 · Why can Christmas music affect our mental health? Can Christmas music boost well-being? What to do if you hate Christmas music
Dec 25, 2017 · Psychologists have found that playing Christmas music too early in the year can wreak havoc on one’s mental health (particularly if they’re constantly exposed to it, as those in certain retail...
- 54 sec
- Nicole Spector
Nov 9, 2017 · Clinical psychologist Linda Blair says listening to Christmas music too early into the holiday season may affect mental health by triggering feelings of stress. Hearing a Christmas song can...
- caitlin.okane@paramount.com
- 1 min
- CBS News
- Caitlin O'Kane
Nov 24, 2023 · Conversely, if negative memories and feelings are associated with Christmas, the same songs could cause the brain to release cortisol, the stress hormone that increases the heart rate, and...
Dec 18, 2020 · Even though Christmas time can be stressful for some, what people often do with Christmas music is that it allows them to escape. It allows them to get their mind off the stress and into the music. The other thing is our memories. Memories are intricately entwined with music.
