Previous studies had already demonstrated the benefits of music on the brain.
The music theory lessons and the scales performed as a child would stimulate the brain and facilitate neuronal development. They would also have an impact throughout life and protect the cognitive health of seniors, according to a study from the University of Toronto (Canada) published in the medical journal The Journal of Neuroscience.
Singing would also allow people with precocious dementia maintain cognitive functioning, improve their memory and stabilize their mood, according to the results of a study published in the journal Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.
Music, an alternative medicine?
Researchers at the University of Helsinki (Finland) followed 89 patients with mild to moderate dementia for 9 months. The first group participated in a 10-week singing-based musical program, the second group continued with classical treatments. At the end of the study, participants took neuropsychological and mood assessment tests.
The findings of the experiment showed that musical activities improve various cognitive skills, such as memory and orientation, and also relieve symptoms of depression more markedly than the conventional treatment.
“Music is thus an activity or even an alternative therapy which not only helps to maintain and stimulate cognitive and emotional capacities but also to bring social well-being to elderly and disabled people. Since musical activities are relatively easy to implement, they should be integrated into care programs, ”concludes Särkämö Teppo, from the Finnish Center for Interdisciplinary Music and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Helsinki and co-author of the ‘study.
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