Best songs to listen to on planes revealed in Spotify study

ARE you a nervous flyer? Kick back and chillax - the most calming songs to listen to on planes have been revealed by music streaming service Spotify.

The best songs to listen to on planes

AFRAID of flying? Pop on some Adele before your next trip.

The British singer’s hit Someone Like You has been named the best song to calm your nerves on a plane.

Enya’s Sail Away, Bob Marley’s Buffalo Soldier and Coldplay’s Paradise were also good tracks to listen to before or during a flight.

The study, commissioned by music streaming service Spotify, found tracks that stimulate both sides of the brain reduced anxiety.

It has compiled a “calming music to fly to” playlist to help people get their holiday off to a good start.

Check out the Spotify playlist

Someone Like You came out on top because it has a tempo of 67 beats per minute - close to the optimum 60 beats per minute - and harmonious tones.

Anxiety psychologist Dr Becky Spelman (www.privatetherapyclinics.co.uk), who carried out the study, said breathing in time to music with a low bpm with headphones on and your eyes closed lowers your heart rate and blood pressure, which reduces anxiety.

She said harmonious and emotive songs that stimulate the “logical” left and “emotional” right sides of the brain were best.

“If a song is close to 60 beats per minute and people start to breathe in time with the music it starts to slow their heart rate and make people feel more relaxed,” she said.

Dr Spelman said she wanted to do more research around remixing songs to help reduce anxiety.

“It was interesting how music could be changed and altered to make it more relaxing,” she said.

The playlist compiled by Dr Spelman includes a mix of songs across genres including classical and alternative rock.

Orinoco Flow (Sail Away) by Enya also has a low bpm and Piano on The Beach by Liborio Conti uses this method alongside the ability to stimulate both sides of the brain.

Best music to listen to on planes

Someone Like You - Adele

Orinoco Flow (Sail Away) - Enya

Piano on The Beach - Liborio Conti

Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major (“Elvira Madigan”) K. 467 — Mozart

Better Together - Jack Johnson

Pure Shores — All Saints

Buffalo Soldier — Bob Marley

Scar Tissue — Red Hot Chilli Peppers

As I Lay Me Down — Sophie B. Hawkins

Inside Out — Britney Spears

Ignition — R Kelly

Flaws and All — Beyoncé

The Christmas song — Nat King Cole

Space Oddity — David Bowie