OK, so maybe we wouldn’t classify this as a medical problem, but when you get one … it sure isn’t great. 

We’re talking about earworms, those songs that get stuck in your head. When you’re driving, when you’re in the shower, when you wake up in the middle of the night—there it is. The song. 

And maybe not even the whole thing! Maybe just the chorus, over and over and over and over …

Well, guess what? There actually is a medical context for this weird phenomenon, also called stuck song syndrome, stuck thoughts, involuntary musical imagery and—our favorite—tune wedgies.

Research has recently found that earworms can be a symptom of chronic stress and anxiety—in addition to giving you chronic stress and anxiety. They could be your canary in the coal mine, indicating you’re more mentally fatigued than you realize. 

“Psychologically, earworms are a ‘cognitive itch’: the brain automatically itches back, resulting in a vicious loop. The more one tries to suppress the songs, the more their impetus increases, a mental process known as ironic process theory.  Those most at risk for SSS are: females, youth, and patients with OCD,” said research published by the National Library of Medicine.  

That said, 98% of people in Western cultures report having been infected with an earworm. Not to alarm you, but the record holder seems to be a poor, poor man who had an earworm for five. Straight. Years. 

Here’s another scientific explanation: “Earworms can occur due to the brain’s attempt to fill a gap in the auditory cortex, which is located in the temporal lobe. When you hear a song over and over, the brain transmits that sound information to the ‘phonological loop,’ a short-term memory system in the auditory cortex. Earworms can be caused or triggered by the most recent song you listened to, a song or tune listened to repeatedly, a song listened to during a period of stress, or a song that connects to past events or memories.”

With all this research comes advice, and it couldn’t be easier: Chew gum. 

“The act of gum-chewing is very similar to irrelevant sub-vocalisation, which has proved to degrade short term memory performance as well as auditory images,” says yet another study. In English: Something about those little squishy noises you don’t even notice you hear when you chew disrupts the autotune in your brain enough to stop it. 

Usually. Or sometimes. It depends. 

The other suggestions, ranging from classic to weird and mostly based on anecdotal (rather than medical) evidence include: 

• Avoid listening to the same music over and over. 

Listen to “Karma Chameleon” by Culture Club. For real. This is a recommendation we found in more than one place.

• Listen to the guilty song in its entirety. Some people think not being able to remember it all or not being able to finish it in your head is what keeps it going. 

Distract yourself with something that takes a lot of concentration, like reading or word puzzles.

Look for what your earworm might be trying to tell you. Does it bring a particular memory to mind, or does a lyric have special meaning? 

• Don’t try too hard to stop. Letting go of the desire for it to end may have the ironic result of it actually ending.

But if you could already do that, would you be reading this article? … Now we have “Karma Chameleon” stuck in our heads.