Music and Memory: Harnessing the Therapeutic Benefits of Music in Memory Care and Personal Care
September 24, 2024
Music has been proven to energize, soothe, and improve brain health. Harnessing its power can even be as simple as listening, dancing, or singing along to your playlist. But how does music stimulate brain function, improve learning, increase quality of life, bring happiness, and promote well-being? Put simply, it helps activate most of the brain’s networks and regions and keep the brain pathways strong. These pathways include those involved in learning, quality of life, brain function, well-being, and happiness.
Playing an Instrument is Like a Workout for Your Brain
When you play any instrument, you are basically exercising your brain, which is exactly what you need to boost cognitive health. While the brain is not a muscle, it plays an important role in controlling your muscles. That’s why, similar to your muscles, your brain needs exercise to function at its best. Since playing most instruments requires listening, memory, movement, emotion, and reading, all the brain networks involved in these processes come to life and stimulate most of your brain.
You may also generate new nerve cells or neurons when you play instruments. While most of the neurons in your brain are generated by the time you are born, when you challenge your brain, such as by learning to play an instrument, studies suggest that it can drive your brain to generate neurons. This process is known as neurogenesis.
In addition, when practicing music, your brain produces myelin, which is an insulating sheath or layer that forms itself around the neurons. It can help facilitate faster and more efficient information flow and boost memory retention. Consequently, it can aid in generating new brain synapses, which are areas where neurons connect and pass information to and from each other. Practicing music regularly also helps strengthen those new synapses.
Listening and Singing to Music Also Improves Brain Health
Performing and listening to music reactivates parts of your brain involved with memory, speech, reward, emotion, and reasoning. Studies have shown that on top of helping you retrieve stored memories, music can also help you store new memories. Furthermore, it can help with processing and experiencing emotion, which can positively impact your mental health. Also, when listening to music you find enjoyable or pleasant, your brain stimulates the release of the “feel-good neurotransmitter” known as dopamine.
For seniors recovering from a brain injury or stroke that damaged the left region of the brain involved with speech, singing can be particularly helpful. Since the brain’s right region is involved with the ability to sing, injured seniors can relearn to talk by singing what’s on their mind and then dropping the melody gradually. In addition, seniors with Parkinson’s disease can benefit from music therapy by helping them better control their movements.
Arrange Your Tour At The Hickman Senior Living Community in West Chester
More and more senior living communities are integrating music therapy into their residents’ individualized care plans. Here at The Hickman Senior Living Community in West Chester, our residents enjoy a broad range of music activities that help them feel good, boost brain health, and interact with others.