Christmas jingles jangle retail workers’ nerves

It’s not the most wonderful time of year for your mental health if you work in retail and are exposed to ongoing holiday music, a British psychologist told the online news site Sky News.

Although holiday music can be stressful for most people, workers were “more at risk” of being mentally harmed by the cheerful jingle music, and the same songs being played constantly makes it hard for employees to “tune it out” and keeps them “unable to focus on anything else,” Linda Blair, a clinical psychologist and the author of “The Key to Calm” told reporters.

Overall, the continuous playing of Christmas music in the car or at stores reminds people of all the things they need to do before the holiday arrives, Sky News reported Thursday.

“You’re simply spending all of your energy trying not to hear what you’re hearing,” Ms. Blair told the reporter.

Meanwhile, the Tampa Bay Times reported recently that Best Buy electronics outlet began playing holiday music on Oct. 22 this year, and a few days later, other stores such as Sears, Ulta cosmetics retailer and Michaels craft store followed suit.