Music, in general, have the ability, to stir emotions, to take back people in time, and to bring out certain memories from the past. But aside from these apparent things, music can actually do a lot more.
Apparently, music is found to be very therapeutic in its nature. And this does not only pertain to treating mental and emotional concerns. As it appears, music can help people in almost all aspects of their lives. And based on recent studies, it can also help many senior citizens in their respective lifestyle concerns. This is why music therapy has become very much apparent to many homes for the aged and various senior communities.
Music Therapy Today
Music therapy has become so much more available today. Thanks to the promising results of many studies about the effects and benefits of music, many specialists and doctors recommend the utilization of music therapy in many health institutions and communities.
Previously, music is very much recommended for children. In fact, this is one of the main reasons why a lot of parents would enroll their kids in music lessons. But did you know that music and music therapy do not only benefit the young ones?
According to studies and research papers, music therapy has shown great results and benefits not only to kids but also to many senior-aged people.
The Relationships Between Music Therapy And Senior Citizens
In many retirement communities today, music has become a great asset for therapies. In fact, music therapies have played an integral role in their respective curriculum. And they are largely offered to many senior-aged individuals for various reasons.
As it happens, music has shown promising effects in relation to numerous physical, emotional, and mental concerns. Not only that music therapy was able to touch these aspects, but having a regular session of this therapy is found to help many individuals, especially the golden-aged group of people, in treating and improving many areas of their health concerns.
And these are the 6 apparent benefits of music therapy for seniors and golden-aged individuals:
1.Relieving boredom
As people grow old, the number of activities that one can do on a daily basis becomes lessen. And this is all because the mobility and actions become limited. Accordingly, many senior-aged individuals become bored at most times.
Although there are certain things that others can still do, it’s not entirely the same anymore as it used to when they are way younger. But even so, music therapy has shown its greatness when senior citizens are seen to relieved their apparent boredom due to music.
So, if you are one of those people who find it hard to go back to their old routines and activities, and you feel a little boredom every now and then, you may want to try to incorporate a little music on your daily living. Try it and see it for yourself how music can largely bring back to the excitement and color to your lifestyle.
2.Helps in stress reduction and purgation
Aside from boredom, senior citizens also experience stress on a daily basis. For some reason, stress has become very apparent as well to many grown-ups in recent years. But since one can no longer pursue the old ways and habits of their own in order to reduce and relieve stress, music has become their option.
As seen in many studies and tests, listening and dancing to music can help reduce stress and furthermore, purgation. Thanks to its powers of inducing happy hormones, it also decreases the production of stress hormones.
3.It helps you to relax and build on social skills
In relation to the increased happy hormones, this also helps many seniors to feel much more relaxed and a lot calmer. As it appears, music is found to help elicit much more happy thoughts than the usual. And when one is filled with happy thoughts, it helps them to feel so much better than before.
In addition to feeling better, this actually results in them to put their focus on building their social skills. For some reason, it makes them more extrovert that it actually helps them establish ties than the usual.
4.Helps in increasing concentration in an individual
For many students, music has become one of their sources of focus and concentration. This is why many of them would resort to music when studying or when planning to regain focus and concentration. While this is very much apparent to many young ones, this has also become applicable to many senior citizens.
According to many retirement homes and communities, individuals who listen to music regularly are found to improve their abilities to focus and concentrate. This is also why music therapy has become available and accessible in these areas.
5.Music therapy helps in activating the brain cells effectively
The way how the brain cells move in a young one’s mind is far different on how the brain cells work in an adult’s mind. Quite obviously, the brain cells of a senior citizen tend to move much slower. But thanks to music and music therapy, it has been found that these avenues actually work efficiently in activating the brain cells.
The neurons are found to die at a much slower rate and at the same time, cognitive functions are much more improved. And because of these benefits, it gives an elderly citizen much more access to mobility, thinking skills, and communication capabilities.
6.Helps in reducing the pain and hastens the recovery cycle in certain individuals
As mentioned, music increased the production of happy hormones in one’s body. But did you know that these hormones are also great tools for pain reduction?
Based on recent studies, it has been found that music and music therapy helps many senior-aged people in reducing pain on a daily basis. And whether it may be minor or chronic pain, music alleviates them naturally. Moreover, it helps them recover on a much faster rate.
Now, these things may sound all too cliché for some. But while too common to hear and read, it only goes to show that these points are already established. So, if you really want to improve the quality of your life and lifestyle, especially if you are a senior citizen, try music today.
Besides, there’s nothing to lose when listening or dancing to music.