Previous studies had already demonstrated the benefits of music on the brain.
Solfege lessons and scales performed when you are a child would stimulate the brain and facilitate neural development. They would also have a lifelong impact and would protect the cognitive health of seniors, according to a study by the University of Toronto (Canada) published in the medical journal The Journal of Neuroscience.
Singing would also allow people with dementia praecox to maintain cognitive functioning, improve their memory and stabilize their mood, according to the results of a study published in the medical journal Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.
Music, an alternative medicine?
Researchers from the University of Helsinki (Finland) followed 89 patients with mild to moderate dementia for 9 months. The first group took part in a 10-week musical program based on singing, the second group continued the classic treatments. At the end of the study, participants took neuropsychological and mood assessment tests.
The findings of the experiment showed that musical activities improve different cognitive skills, such as memory and orientation, and also relieve the symptoms of depression more markedly than conventional treatment.
“Music is thus an activity or even an alternative therapy that not only maintains and stimulates cognitive and emotional abilities, but also brings social well-being to elderly and deficient 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 Research in Music and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Helsinki and co-author of the ‘study.
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