A new study has found a way to make the rush hour commute a little less stressful.
The team at Royal Holloway, University of London discovered that plugging into your MP3 player on crowded public transport actually shrinks the area you perceive as being your personal space.
Participants were asked to listen to music they enjoyed and rate how close a stranger could get to them before they started to feel uncomfortable.
Those plugged into their headphones tolerated much greater proximity to the stranger than those who didn’t have musical accompaniment.
We should point out this effect was only seen with music evoking positive emotions, so best save the Radiohead for another time.
