Hearing Christmas Music “Too Early” Can be Bad for Your Mental Health

It's October, so most of us are looking forward to Halloween in a couple of weeks.

This includes things like planning your (and your kids) costumes, selecting the perfect pumpkin to crave, watching horror/Halloween films, etc.

Maybe it's just me, but stores seem to be getting into the holiday spirit earlier and earlier each year. Christmas decorations can be found in serval local stores right now.

Drives me nuts seeing all this Christmas stuff popping up before I've even taken my kids Trick-or-Treating!!

I mean don't get me wrong, I like the holidays, but I'd like to celebrate Halloween and Thanksgiving before I even think about Christmas.

Shouldn't the holiday season start after Thanksgiving anyway? Growing up, Black Friday was always the kick-off of Christmas.

And now they're playing Christmas music in stores way earlier too. Some stores have gone as far as to start playing it in the middle of October!! Why?!?!

Don't feel bad if this makes you feel a bit like Ebenezer Scrooge.

According to one clinical psychologist Linda Blair (I love the irony in her having the same name as the actress who starred in The Exorcist), being forced to listening to Christmas music too early reminds people of everything they need to get down before the holiday.

Blair says that the songs are just a constant reminder to buy presents, plan/attend parties, make your travel plans,  and so on. All of which puts an unnecessary extra stress on a time of year that can already be a bit stressful.

 “Christmas music is likely to irritate people if it’s played too loudly and too early,”

Plus no one wants to think about dashing in the snow before we've fully enjoyed Fall.