Why I Wear Headphones to Reduce Anxiety

If you ever see me in real life, I will almost always have a pair of headphones because they reduce my anxiety. If they’re not in my ears, they’ll be hanging around my neck just in case I need to put them in. I started this in high school after I got my first iPod, and I’ve continued it to the present day unceasingly. For me, it’s the best way I can control my anxiety. I want to talk about why that is the case.

How Wearing Headphones Reduces My Anxiety

I Love Being Surrounded By Music

The biggest reason why I always have my headphones near-to-hand is that it means I always have easy access to my music collection. I have my entire 20,000+ song library stored in the cloud, and I can access it at any time on both my phone and iPad. I’ve written before about how comforting music is to me, so this is very important.

But on a more fundamental level, the act of piping music through my headphones acts as a wonderful filtration system for any unwanted stimulation. Even if I’m playing music loudly (and I like to play my music loudly), which would seem like it would be a stimulation overload, it really isn’t. The way I see it, one powerful source of stimulation filtering out countless outside sources of stimulation is a fair trade.

Wearing Headphones Provides Me Distance

When I’m out, I don’t often like to be bothered. Unwanted social interactions make me feel uncomfortable, and I try to keep them to as much of a minimum as I can.

Wearing headphones is the easiest way to do that. When you’re wearing headphones, most people have the cultural know-how to understand that that means I shouldn’t be bothered, so when I’m wearing them, most people leave me alone. Even if I get the random person who does try to say something to me, playing music means I wouldn’t be able to understand what that person was saying even if I wanted to.

Concluding Remarks on Wearing Headphones for Anxiety

Overall, headphones, whether I’m actively using them or not, is my way of keeping unwanted stimulation out of my head. I feel overstimulated as it is, and if I didn’t have my headphones, I wouldn’t be able to filter that out, and I would most surely feel much more uncomfortable, much more often. If you are in my position, I would absolutely suggest wearing them.

Do you use headphones to reduce your anxiety? Do you always listen to something, or does just having them with you keep you calmer? Share your story in the comments.