Music and Cognitive Health in Older Adults

By Steve Rees

A significant percentage of my nursing career in hemodialysis involved caring for people with advanced age—not everyone, but a significant percentage of them. As I played the harp during many of their treatments and noted positive physiological changes, I began to wonder about what mechanisms were at work to produce these positive results.
Recently, I came across an article about how music affects the cognitive health of older adults. I studied the article to see if the research supported some of my suspicions.
The article was first published in Network Neuroscience, Volume 7, Issue 4, 2023: Lead author – Sarah E. M. Faber – conducting research out of Simon Fraser University
https://direct.mit.edu/netn/article/7/4/1404/117283/Age-related-variability-in-network-engagement
“Listening to music benefits older adults’ cognitive health, even if it’s music they haven’t heard before or don’t enjoy very much. The study discovered that listening to music activates brain regions linked to reward in older adults, regardless of their familiarity with the music.”
“Hearing music engages multiple networks across our brains,” says Faber. “On top of the physical properties of sounds we hear; several additional factors help form the whole-brain picture. Have you heard the song before? Do you like it? Does it bring back memories?”
The study was conducted with the methodology consisting of the researchers monitoring brain activity across two groups of participants listening to music: “a younger group of adults with an average age of 19 and a second group of older adults with an average age of 67. Participants listened to 24 samples of music, including songs they selected themselves and popular and recognizable music intentionally chosen by researchers. Also included were ambiguous songs composed specifically for the study.”
“We found that the brain structures responsible for processing physiological and cognitive reward—also known as the reward network—are activated in younger adults while they listen to music they like or are familiar with. However, older adults’ reward networks are stimulated by music even when it is brand new to them, or if they report not liking it very much,” says Faber.
She went on to say, “Understanding how music works in the brain is highly complex, especially given that our brains are constantly evolving with age,”
“With training, the auditory reward network can become even more engaged across all types of music. But even when the music is not familiar to them, it still has the ability to make their body move, and to help calibrate or balance their emotions by activating those regions in the brain.”
One of her comments centered around the benefits of using music in Alzheimer patients. I have had several real-life experiences with these benefits. One time, I was asked to come into a locked unit for Alzheimer or memory care people. As I stepped through the door, there was chaos all around, screaming and restlessness on every side. I just sat down and started playing my harp with a slow beat music and within 15 minutes, everything had quieted down dramatically.
I played for about an hour and then told them I had another appointment I had to get on to. They were insistent that I couldn’t leave as everything was so much better. I gave them several CDs so they could play them whenever they needed it and went on to my next appointment. A couple of weeks later, I received a note from the director. She wrote, “I want to thank you for the music you left with us. Ever since then we have been playing it almost non-stop and the transformation of this unit has been none other than a miracle. Thank you.”
A recent survey on music and brain health conducted by AARP revealed some interesting findings about the impact of music on cognitive and emotional well-being:
https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/why-is-music-good-for-the-brain-2020100721062
The author Andrew E. Budson, MD, lists out the main benefits that music has to offer:
Music listeners had higher scores for mental well-being and slightly reduced levels of anxiety and depression compared to people overall.
Of survey respondents who currently go to musical performances, 69% rated their brain health as “excellent” or “very good,” compared to 58% for those who went in the past and 52% for those who never attended.
Of those who reported often being exposed to music as a child, 68% rated their ability to learn new things as “excellent” or “very good,” compared to 50% of those who were not exposed to music.
Active musical engagement, including those over age 50, was associated with higher rates of happiness and good cognitive function.
Adults with no early music exposure but who currently engage in some music appreciation show above average mental well-being scores.
“So just how does music promote well-being, enhance learning, stimulate cognitive function, improve quality of life, and even induce happiness? The answer is, because music can activate almost all brain regions and networks, it can help to keep a myriad of brain pathways and networks strong, including those networks that are involved in well-being, learning, cognitive function, quality of life, and happiness. In fact, there is only one other situation in which you can activate so many brain networks all at once, and that is when you participate in social activities.”
There have been multiple studies performed and I don’t have room to list them, but a query through the internet will turn up many. Music is a very important addition to our well-being and improved health, no matter how old we are. However, there seems to be an added benefit when the older generations are exposed to its beneficial effects. Our neural networks are activated, and the evolution of our brain’s capacity is improved. There does not appear to be any downside to the exposure of music in our lives. Since I have passed the 70-year mark, I am particularly interested in these benefits and intend to expose myself to them as often as possible.