{"id":1791,"date":"2024-01-14T13:24:58","date_gmt":"2024-01-14T13:24:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gregmaxwell.net\/?p=1791"},"modified":"2025-08-21T19:48:18","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T19:48:18","slug":"listen-to-the-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregmaxwell.net\/index.php\/2024\/01\/14\/listen-to-the-music\/","title":{"rendered":"Listen to the Music"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Are you left, right, or no brained? Music does many things…but the sweetest is bringing up the good memories.
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Music does wonders for your mood, but did you know it might give your brain a boost, too? In fact, playing<\/em> music\u2014not just listening to it<\/a>\u2014has a positive effect on your cognition, even if you\u2019re already showing signs of dementia<\/a>, new research suggests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a meta-analysis published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society<\/a><\/em>, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh examined nine studies with 495 participants over age 65 who have mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or dementia. The studies specifically evaluated older adults with MCI who took part in improvising music, playing existing music, singing, playing instruments, or other forms of music making.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mild cognitive impairment was defined as \u201ca preclinical state between normal cognitive aging and Alzheimer\u2019s disease<\/a>.\u201d Dementia, an umbrella term for various age-related cognitive symptoms, was defined as a \u201cdebilitating disease that can dramatically alter the cognitive, emotional, and social aspects of a person\u2019s life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The finding? Making music has a small but statistically significant effect on cognitive functioning, such as thinking and memory, says lead author Jennie L. Dorris<\/a>, a Ph.D. student in rehabilitation science and a graduate student researcher in the University of Pittsburgh\u2019s Department of Occupational Therapy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s because playing music works multiple areas of your brain at the same time. \u201cYou are coordinating your motor movements with the sounds you hear and the visual patterns of the written music,\u201d explains Dorris. \u201cMusic has been called a \u2018full-body workout\u2019 for the brain, and we think that it\u2019s unique because it calls on multiple systems at once.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a bonus, music-making habits also had a positive effect on mood<\/a> and quality of life\u2014so go ahead and get musical, no matter your age. \u201cBecause we saw a positive effect across all different active music-making activities, we know that people have options and can choose the activity that they prefer,\u201d says Dorris, \u201cWhether it\u2019s singing in a choir, joining a drum circle, or registering for an online music class where you learn how to compose, it\u2019s just important that you are actively participating in the music-making process.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, reconnecting with the guitar that\u2019s gathered dust in your basement is just one step you can take to keep your brain sharp<\/a>. And the sooner you start, the better: Of older adults who don\u2019t<\/em> already have Alzheimer\u2019s disease, 15% of them likely have mild cognitive impairment. Up to 38% of them will then go on to develop Alzheimer\u2019s within five years, the researchers note.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To mitigate your dementia risk<\/a>, it\u2019s also important to stay active most days of the week, eat a Mediterranean-style diet<\/a>, stay social by connecting with loved ones<\/a>, and seek help for chronic health issues like depression, high cholesterol, and sleep disorders. All of these pieces add up over time, ensuring a healthier body\u2014and mind\u2014for years to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Are you left, right, or no brained? Music does many things…but the sweetest is bringing up the good memories. Music […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1793,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/gregmaxwell.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/muus.gif","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregmaxwell.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregmaxwell.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregmaxwell.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregmaxwell.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregmaxwell.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1791"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gregmaxwell.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1791\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1794,"href":"https:\/\/gregmaxwell.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1791\/revisions\/1794"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregmaxwell.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregmaxwell.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregmaxwell.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregmaxwell.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}