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The remarkable effects of music on our brains: it helps with brain development in premature babies, slows down brain aging and can bring memories back to people with dementia.
When babies are born prematurely, they are not ready for the noisy and busy world out there. Your brain has not yet made all the necessary nerve connections. This leads to lifelong developmental disorders in 30 to 50 percent of premature babies.
Researchers from the University and Hospital of Geneva found that music helps these children develop. They repeatedly put music in headphones on the children to protect their immature brains from the stressful environment of the NICU. A control group received headphones without music.
And indeed: first results show that the brains of premature babies treated with music developed better than those of the control group. Their brains were more like those of term babies.
Making music makes our brain fitter
Children who play musical instruments do better in school exams than their non-musical peers. have that researchers from Vancouver when they evaluated the academic performance of 112,916 Canadian youth between the ages of 16 and 18.
Incidentally, the more intensively the children played music, the stronger the effect. The brains of older people also benefit from regular music making. One study from the University of Geneva showed that after just six months of practicing a musical instrument, retirees were able to perform cognitive and motor tasks better than before.
Dancing helps against Parkinson’s symptoms
Parkinson’s is an incurable nervous disease. Sufferers slowly lose control of their movements. Dance therapy can help – especially when tango is being danced. The movements in tango are very similar to walking, and tango specifically trains an upright posture, which patients usually find difficult.
Singing brings back the language
Brain damage, also known as aphasia, robs some people of their ability to speak. A well-known example is the actor Bruce Willis, who has just ended his career because of this.
Legend:
Actor Bruce Willis was forced to retire from acting after being diagnosed with aphasia.
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The problem for those affected: the words are still there, but access to them is blocked. The reason for this is damage to the left hemisphere of the brain, where the language center is located.
Speech therapy, which uses the melody and rhythm of music for treatment, can help. Singing stimulates the healthy right side of the brain and rhythmic tapping stimulates connections in the brain. Some of those affected can slowly find their way back to speech thanks to singing.
Music digs up lost emotions
People with dementia lose more and more of their memories as the disease progresses. A music mirror can help bring them back.
The idea is as follows: An important episode in the life of those affected is coupled with music or noises. The teenage years are a good time, because many strong memories of this time are strongly related to music.