5 Ways Music Keeps Your Brain Young and Sharp

It also helps you get the most from your workouts. Also read, how Indian classical music affects the brain. Plus: why ages 44 and 60 are key to ageing well.

Music’s deep and wide-ranging impact on the brain| Creative by Anjul D.

120 beats per minute - That is the tempo at which music lures you to the dance floor, as any good DJ will tell you.

125-140 beats per minute is the ideal tempo at which your workout playlist will help you get maximum burn (if you move to the music).

These are not anecdotal, by the way. It is rooted in hard science. When you listen to any music with a fast, steady beat (120 bpm is the magic number), your central nervous system kicks into gear. Your heart rate and breathing speed up to keep time with the beat. Your blood pressure goes up, as does your body temperature. Your muscles tense. You get primed for an intense workout.

Here’s what happens then. Getting into the groove benefits physical performance. It can reduce your perception of getting tired. It also improves your oxygen consumption efficiency or VO2Max. In short, moving to the right music can help you get max burn.

Conversely, think of a yoga studio or a spa or a mother singing a lullaby. The music instantly relaxes us.

Why do you think music has this effect on us? 

Because it lights up the brain, literally. This is also why playing an instrument is considered the best way to work out and build your brain muscles. Singing and listening to music also help, but not as much.

So, here’s what happens when you listen to music

(To be honest, scientists are still figuring out the fine details. But here’s what they know for sure)

You press play. The sound waves enter through the ear canal. The eardrum vibrates, takes these signals to the brain.

Here on, things get complex. To use a musical allegory, it is like an orchestra.

The auditory cortex processes the sound and perceives pitch.

The basal ganglia and supplementary motor area – associated with timing and planning movements – groove to the rhythm (making you tap your foot to music).

Areas associated with emotional responses and memory like the amygdala and hippocampus swing into action. This is why music can make you smile, cry and remember.

And, the hormones flow. Dopamine triggers pleasure, serotonin regulates your mood and oxytocin urges you to mingle and bond with people. So, now you know why every good party begins and ends with music!

And did you also realise that unlike your gym sessions that target specific muscle groups (leg day, anyone?), music actually gets the entire brain up and running?

Sounds a little like having your cake and eating it too, right? Well, it is.

Let’s look at how music benefits the brain

1. Music boosts brain function

Have you heard of the ‘Mozart effect’? This was a study by the University of California that proved that listening to a Mozart sonata before a test boosted IQ scores of students in the experimental group. This was in comparison to other pieces of music.

Researchers speculated that listening to that specific piece of music primed the brain to process information in the test more efficiently. But hang on, don’t go adding Mozart to your own or junior’s playlist just yet (unless you really want to), because a Harvard study later found that the gains were negligible and temporary. However, the point here is that music boosts brain performance.

2. Music builds cognitive reserve

Music also protects. Cognitive reserve helps the brain resist age-related damage. In fact, researchers involved in this study from the University of Exeter, recommended that music be considered “part of a lifestyle approach to maintain the brain”.

Why? They reviewed data from more than 1,000 adults over age 40 and found that playing a musical instrument helped older adults sustain memory and the ability to solve complex tasks.

Playing the piano or keyboard had the best impact. Brass and woodwind instruments also helped. However, they found no benefits in simply listening to music.

3. Music improves brain plasticity

Music also helps the brain rewire itself; what scientists call neuroplasticity. In recent research scientists saw grey matter volume increase in the brain after six months of piano lessons or music appreciation classes. The research was conducted among 132 adults aged an average of 69 years.

Grey matter increased in four brain regions involved in high-level cognitive functioning, including the cerebellum areas that managed working memory. Seniors’ performance on tasks improved by 6% and researchers said this directly correlated to the plasticity of the cerebellum from the intervention.

Not surprisingly, the paper recommends that policymakers consider making music education for seniors mandatory to promote healthy aging.

4. Music helps preserve and retract memories

Everyone has a song-linked memory, right? But did you know that patients with Dementia who could have forgotten the names of family members, still remember and dance to songs from their youth? In fact, music is actively recommended as therapy for patients with Dementia because it helps in recovery of some memories, reduces aggression, modulates emotion and helps in communication. This study found that exposure to popular music from their time helped patients with dementia communicate better with their family and caregivers.

5. Music relieves stress

Of course you know this. But did you know just how powerful music can be in relieving stress? This research studied the impact of music in one of the most stressful situations possible – surgery. It found that cataract surgery patients who listened to music of their choice before, after and during surgery had a significantly lower heart rate, blood pressure and cardiac work load than patients who did not listen to music.

There you have it – five very powerful reasons why you must incorporate music into your daily life, immediately. Six, if you count the effect music has on helping you make workouts more intense.

But, hang on, do all kinds of music have the same effect? What about Indian classical music?

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Indian classical music and the brain

Reading about the ‘Mozart Effect’ got me wondering about the impact that Indian music traditions have on the brain and I went digging. Turns out, there is some research on how listening to or training in Carnatic or Hindustani music impacts the brain. Here’s what I found:

- An IISc study found that healthy elderly Carnatic singers have better visuospatial abilities as compared to non-musicians of the same age.

They also found an increase in grey matter volume in certain brain regions in musicians as compared to non-musicians. Researchers studied participants (aged 50-80 years) of the Tata Longitudinal Aging Study in South India.

-Another NIMHANS study explored the impact of listening to a specific raaga - Raga Bhoopali - from Hindustani classical music on schizophrenic patients. Researchers found the patients’ reaction time and performance on attention tasks improved after exposure to the music.

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To conclude, it does seem like the more complex the piece of music, better is the cognitive impact on the brain. However, the benefits you can get from playing an instrument are much more than what you can get from merely listening to music.

But the key takeaway for me? Prior training does not matter. Meaning it’s never too late to begin and benefit from music lessons.

So, what are you waiting for? Sign up for those guitar lessons you have been meaning to take since college, attend concerts, listen to music in the car or just, sing in the shower.

To (mis)quote the Bard, “If music be the food of (life), play on..”

Listening to ‘Roobaroo Roshani’ or ‘Walking on Sunshine’ is enough to put a spring in my step. What is your go-to piece of music when you are blue? Let me know. And if you liked this, consider sharing it!

Before you go

Anecdotal evidence or your own experience would tell you that most people get their first big age-related ‘health shock’ in their 40’s or 60’s. New research shows it is true.

A Stanford Medicine study has found that our bodies undergo two periods of rapid change in our lifespan, around the ages of 44 and 60. This is when many of the molecules and micro-organisms in our body dramatically rise or fall in number.

Researchers assessed different molecules in people from age 25 to 75, as well as their microbiomes — the bacteria, viruses and fungi that live inside us and on our skin. They found that most molecules and microbes do not follow a gradual, chronological trajectory.

According to this Stanford release, people in their 40s showed significant changes in the number of molecules related to alcohol, caffeine and lipid metabolism, cardiovascular disease, and in skin and muscle.

For those in their 60s, changes were linked to carbohydrate and caffeine metabolism, immune regulation, kidney function, cardiovascular disease, and in skin and muscle.

What it means for us: If you are in your 40’s, now is a good time to take stock of your health (if you haven’t already). Pay attention to those test results and the doctor’s advice. Act now.

Genetics professor and the study’s senior author, Michael Snyder’s quote sums it up. He says, “I’m a big believer that we should try to adjust our lifestyles while we’re still healthy.”

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That’s it from me this week. I hope you are reading this at the end of a restful, long weekend. And I do hope that some music was part of it too.

See you Monday.

Kavita Krishnan.