Health Highlight: Thu. 1, June

Today’s Highlight(s): Today we look at a Research Highlight from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) that explores the positive benefits of listening to music.

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🌐 Title Card Article Link: nia.nih.gov

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THE BRIEF

The focus of today’s Health Highlight is an article from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) that describes the work being done by several neuroscience researchers examining how music affects the brain, and how it can be used to help people with a range of issues. 

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KEY POINTS

While most of the researchers are musicians themselves, all of their research focuses on using music as a complementary intervention for improving brain activity.

Psyche Loui, Ph.D., Northeastern University

• Psyche found that familiar music activates the auditory cortex and dopamine-driven reward systems, motivating people to learn new things. 

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• Loui’s music-based programs improve auditory system-medial prefrontal cortex connectivity, which may help older adults learn and remember. 

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• They are also developing a device to treat dementia and cognitive impairments with music and rhythmic light patterns. 

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More

Music, Imaging, and Neural Dynamics Laboratory (MIND Lab)

Multimodal Musical Stimulation for Healthy Neurocognitive Aging

Julene Johnson, Ph.D., University of California

• Researching how music may improve cognitive and social connections in older adults.

• Her research shows that community choirs reduce loneliness, increase life interest, and have physical and psychosocial benefits. 

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• Johnson is studying how musical improvisation affects cognition and brain function in older adults with mild cognitive impairment to understand how music affects health and well-being. 

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More

Community of Voices

The Sound Health Network

Babar A. Khan, M.D., Indiana University School of Medicine, and Linda L. Chlan, Ph.D., R.N., Mayo Clinic

• The Decreasing Delirium Through Music in Critically Ill Older Adults Study 

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  examines whether carefully sequenced music can reduce delirium in ICU patients receiving respiratory support. 
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• Relaxing music has been shown to reduce anxiety and ventilation time. Slow, relaxing music may reduce delirium better than audiobooks, suggesting its use in ICUs. 

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Darina Petrovsky, Ph.D., R.N., Rutgers University

• Doctor Petrovsky is studying how music can help Alzheimer’s and dementia patients sleep.

• CoMPoSER, an app developed by Petrovsky and her team, lets caregivers create sleep-inducing music playlists.

• The person’s favorite songs with a heartbeat tempo are chosen to relax and reduce arousal. 

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• Initial research suggests instrumental music without lyrics may improve sleep. 

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More

Music-based Intervention for Insomnia in Persons Living with Dementia and Their Caregivers

Vincent Mor, Ph.D., and Ellen McCreedy, Ph.D., MPH, Brown University School of Public Health

• Mor and McCreedy’s Brown University METRIcAL Project 

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   investigated how personalized music playlists could reduce agitation and aggression in Alzheimer’s patients in nursing homes.

• The study found no significant effects on behavior or psychotropic drug use, but valuable lessons were learned for future trials. ¹

• Identifying residents’ preferred music was difficult, especially for advanced dementia patients. ¹

• Music’s neurological effects and innovative nursing home music delivery methods need further study.

More

Music & MEmory: A Pragmatic TRial for Nursing Home Residents With ALzheimer’s Disease (METRIcAL)_part2 (METRIcAL)

Keywords 🏷️: #MusicTherapy #MusicResearch #MusicAndHealth #NIH #NIA

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FOOTNOTES

1. “Could “musical medicine” influence healthy aging?”
https://www.nia.nih.gov/news/could-musical-medicine-influence-healthy-aging 

2. “Longitudinal changes in auditory and reward systems following receptive music-based intervention in older adults”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9261172/

3. “Neural Entrainment to Musical Pulse in Naturalistic Music Is Preserved in Aging: Implications for Music-Based Interventions”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9775503/

4. “Gamma frequency entrainment attenuates amyloid load and modifies microglia”
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27929004/ 

5. “A Community Choir Intervention to Promote Well-Being Among Diverse Older Adults: Results From the Community of Voices Trial”
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30412233/

6. “Multi-cultural perspectives on group singing among diverse older adults”
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32778434/

7. “Decreasing Delirium through Music (DDM) in critically ill, mechanically ventilated patients in the intensive care unit: study protocol for a pilot randomized controlled trial”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5708104/

8. “Effects of patient-directed music intervention on anxiety and sedative exposure in critically ill patients receiving mechanical-ventilatory support: a randomized clinical trial”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3683448/

9. “Economic evaluation of a patient-directed music intervention for ICU patients receiving mechanical ventilatory support”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6095811/

10. “Tailored Music Listening Intervention to Reduce Sleep Disturbances in Older Adults with Dementia: Research Protocol”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7945958/

11. “Comparing the effects of music and exercise with music for older adults with insomnia”
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27969011/

12. “METRIcAL - Music & MEmory: a Pragmatic TRIal for Nursing Home Residents with ALzheimer’s Disease”
https://reporter.nih.gov/search/Hcx8HGqysUeXhwdBBPeFBQ/project-details/10219946