Music & Ageing Brain

As we age so our brains degenerate, sometimes at a faster rate than our bodies.

Alzheimers disease can begin in the brain twenty years before any problems are noticed.

The desease is complex, with tangles and plagues developing which culminate in dying brain cells.

The decline of chemical transmitters adds greatly to the problem. Our brain loses weight with a 20% LOSS IN MASS BYTHE AGE OF 90.

Musical imagery plays a large part in stimulating the brain and many composers write through imagining rather than paling.

People can hold whole orchestras in their head without actually hearing a note and musicians of any level can imagine playing hearing and seeing the music as it played out in mind experiments show that the motor and auditory cortex can be activated almost as strongly as if music is being listened to.

If is thought that Beethoven, being deaf could have held unwritten music in his imagination prior to developing his great scores.

In ageing brains music is not the only stimulant. Learning a new language greatly enhances memory through the control system for neuroplasticity, as duos any activity that involves highly focused attention like new physical activities.

Focus on new challenges is the key to brain stimulation and studies in neuroscience are behind the idea that musicians and those who listen to music, or even simply imagine it greatly enhance their brains and thereby their lives.

As well as improving the brain through cognitive stimulation which as we age lack of is the most damaging a healthy diet, keeping a normal body weight and exercising too go a long way to help prevent excessive brain degeneration.

Music is the medicine of mind

We are only just beginning to understand how music affects the brain, we know that music is extremely powerful and it can elicit hundreds of shades of emotion very quickly.

Topics of study include for example
Perception of musical sounds perception of sound
patterns
memory for music
absolute pitch

Stimulation of the Brain
by the music

Whereas other professionals would show no particular change in the brain relevant to their profession the brain of musician is easily recognizable.

Experiments show that there are changes in the motor cortex within minutes of practice.