Do you get music stuck in your head? I do. So I started reading up on it. I’m not sure how much this has to do with ADD, but a lot of people (with ADD) whom I queried complain of this awful phenomenon, which is often referred to as “earworms.”
According to Wikipedia, “An earworm is a catchy piece of music that continually repeats through a person’s mind after it is no longer playing. Phrases used to describe an earworm include musical imagery repetition, involuntary musical imagery, and stuck song syndrome.”
My quick research via Google showed that earworms, though common in general, are thought to be more common in people with OCD. So what does this have to do with ADD? I’m getting to it…
Having intrusive thoughts and earworms would seem to be similar experiences. The ADD brain, in its search to find stimuli, often finds its way to obsessive worrying, ruminating and as we all know, addictive brain- locking activities like computer games (think…grrrr…Candy Crush), TV, shopping, eating, gambling and more.
In our search for mental stimuli, then, it would make sense that our brains would search for something at all times in order to feed it’s unrelenting hunger for stimulation. Perhaps that’s why many of us find earworms the perfect, yet, totally frustrating solution.
My earworm of the day, which is driving me mad, is the bridge in Chicago’s I’ve Been Searching so Long:
I’ve been searchin’
So long
To find an answer
Now I know my life has meaning…
How about you? What song is stuck in your head right this very minute? Share your nightmare in the comment section below.
I was taking a lovely walk with a friend on a local greenway (so proud of myself for getting out of my somewhat circular routine of late) when a guy on a bike rode by with music blasting (so loudly!) from a player cleverly rigged on his ride. Nevertheless, it was virtually impossible for me to extricate Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band for hours. Clearly the guy had never heard of exercise headphones. Sigh.
The absolute worst was when my kids were going through “the Barney stage” – around ages 2-4yrs – and I’d wake up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, and various Barney songs would come alive in my brain, SO LOUD in my brain! that I’d have trouble getting back to sleep. Any minute my brain had some down time, there was Barney. My kids are 7 – 14 now and every once in a while one of those songs will still creep up out of nowhere in my head….”Barney is a dinosaur that comes from our imaginaaationnnn…”
Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?
My Guy
Big Bang Theory Theme song
Aaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!