5 Ways Music Therapy Helps Seniors

 

For seniors, maintaining an active mind is important to managing your health, improving quality of life, and keeping your mind strong. Creative activities are an excellent way for seniors to work out their cognitive energies. Music therapy is a very successful activity for seniors to keep an active and healthy mind.

Music therapy is great for not just mental health but physical health as well. Here are 5 ways music therapy can help seniors.

  1. Improve Memory. Music has a way of speaking to our emotions and will often trigger memories. For seniors, this has been proven to be a great way to remember specific moments or a period of time in their lives. Triggering these memories can prove to start a domino effect and seniors can begin recalling other happy moments in their lives.
  2. Promote Social Engagement: Whether seniors are participating in a group by playing instruments or listening to songs, it can be a great opportunity for them to be engaged with others. If they are learning a new instrument, they can bond over the experience. If they hear a song, they can share their memories. Music can be a great way for seniors to find common ground with their peers.
  3. Encourage Positive Thinking: Hearing music can shift a seniors’ thinking patterns, especially when used as a daily therapy. Music can allow them to engage with something new that promotes happiness. Many seniors feel nervous or anxious as they age. Music can be very calming, especially soft and peaceful tones.
  4. Fun Activity: Many seniors are unable to do some of the activities they once loved due to physical restrictions. This can cause many seniors to become bored and depressed. Music gives them an opportunity to participate in something they are extremely capable of.
  5. Keeps Them Moving: Physical restrictions are certainly an issue with seniors. But playing an instrument or listening to music requires little but helpful movement seniors can benefit from. Activity as minimal as tapping a foot, clapping hands, or shaking an instrument is an excellent way to release tension and stress from the body and is a great way to bring joy. For seniors that are able, music can get them dancing: whether they are able to stand up and move around or they move their arms a little while resting in a chair. Just a little movement is better than no movement at all.

If you are interested in learning more about music therapy and want to find a way to participate in your community, contact one of our Service Coordinators today!

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For seniors, maintaining an active mind is important to managing your health, improving quality of life, and keeping your mind strong. Creative activities are an excellent way for seniors to work out their cognitive energies. Music therapy is a very successful activity for seniors to keep an active and healthy mind.



Music therapy is great for not just mental health but physical health as well. Here are 5 ways music therapy can help seniors.

    
 	
  1. Improve Memory. Music has a way of speaking to our emotions and will often trigger memories. For seniors, this has been proven to be a great way to remember specific moments or a period of time in their lives. Triggering these memories can prove to start a domino effect and seniors can begin recalling other happy moments in their lives.
    2. 
 	
  2. Promote Social Engagement: Whether seniors are participating in a group by playing instruments or listening to songs, it can be a great opportunity for them to be engaged with others. If they are learning a new instrument, they can bond over the experience. If they hear a song, they can share their memories. Music can be a great way for seniors to find common ground with their peers.
    3. 
 	
  3. Encourage Positive Thinking: Hearing music can shift a seniors' thinking patterns, especially when used as a daily therapy. Music can allow them to engage with something new that promotes happiness. Many seniors feel nervous or anxious as they age. Music can be very calming, especially soft and peaceful tones.
    4. 
 	
  4. Fun Activity: Many seniors are unable to do some of the activities they once loved due to physical restrictions. This can cause many seniors to become bored and depressed. Music gives them an opportunity to participate in something they are extremely capable of.
    5. 
 	
  5. Keeps Them Moving: Physical restrictions are certainly an issue with seniors. But playing an instrument or listening to music requires little but helpful movement seniors can benefit from. Activity as minimal as tapping a foot, clapping hands, or shaking an instrument is an excellent way to release tension and stress from the body and is a great way to bring joy. For seniors that are able, music can get them dancing: whether they are able to stand up and move around or they move their arms a little while resting in a chair. Just a little movement is better than no movement at all.
    6. 


If you are interested in learning more about music therapy and want to find a way to participate in your community, contact one of our Service Coordinators today!
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