The unexpected effect of music on human life

German and Swiss scientists have studied the effects of music on the brains of older people. The German DW news agency discussed with the leader of this research team about the challenges and results of the study.

Many people who can play at least one instrument often learn music from a young age, but brain researchers from Hanover and Geneva want to show that music lessons are still valuable to people as soon as they get old.

Professor Eckart Altenmüller.

'New research has examined the effects of music on the quality of life of the elderly. It aims to focus on understanding the important role of being able to live the happiness of the elderly and help them try to experiment with new things in their lives again. ' , Neuroscientist music and head of research team Eckart Altenmüller tells DW so.

More than 100 people attended piano lessons or music theory classes within a year, this course will end in the summer of 2018. Anyone between the ages of 64 and 76 has no experience learning music , do not know how to play any instrument to participate in these courses.

How did you learn about the effects of music on the quality of life of the elderly? What results did you hope to achieve?

We hope that music will play an active role in various psychological factors. We wait to bring joy, reduce boredom and depression of the participants, but we also focus on other issues such as stimulating thinking, increasing memory, and thorough Synergy and control of disease.

What makes this study so complex is that we aim to examine how the brain functions in the old age and what factors in the controls of brain structure and Network links in the brain affect lessons about music, music theory.

What scientific evidence do you trust in your research?

Years ago, we tested students who were between the ages of 20 and 30 and we had reliable material to see that every piano lesson could lead to creating interconnected centers. of the brain region that controls hearing and movement. They existed steadily for weeks afterwards.

We now want to know if there is a similar change that we still call the neurotransmitter adaptation (neuroplastic adaptation) in this brain region of the elderly.

He followed two groups: one group studied piano lessons and the other studied music theory. Why so?

For us, that plays an important role to keep what we still call a parameter change . In another way, the two groups are distinguished only by one thing, and in this case, it's a physical experience with an instrument.

Music has a significant impact on the quality of life of the elderly.(Internet artwork).

So you propose that listening to music is still not enough to achieve the desired effect or the like?

Right. Listening to music is a good thing and can completely improve the quality of life, but playing music is more effective.

So can you ensure that these effects are a direct result of playing music?

We should not rule out what we still call unspecific motivational effects, which is why some people don't learn to play but still like to learn interesting things. taste about music.

In other words, can other creative activities besides music also have a positive impact?

It is not the subject of our research, but we can handle it, for example, whether a class of pottery or drawing can have similar positive effects on the brain. There have been these signs in children and young people. These brain changes are nonetheless very different.

So can music have negative effects on health?

Negative influences come only when the music activities are overcharged. Forced exercise can also be harmful if he is forced to practice playing music at extremely high volumes or repeating the same moves.

Excessive exercise has no benefit because it can affect both the best motor skills and lead to exhaustion or loss of mobility, but most are movement disorders.