Meditation and music have a profound effect on our health and wellbeing. Previous studies have shown us the benefits of listening to music not only for our mental and emotional health but also as an aid to our physical health.
Whereas, meditation has been known to calm the mind, help with stress and focus our thoughts, research shows us how meditation makes positive physiological changes in our bodies.
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The benefits of music and meditation have now expanded to include preclinical memory loss, which is a predecessor of Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease.
Till now effective therapies for preventing and slowing cognitive decline have been vague but there have been indications that a complete mind-body intervention might be effective. And this is what the researchers at West Virginia University set out to investigate.
In this randomised controlled trial over six months, 60 older adults with subjective cognitive decline (SCD) which is a condition that represents a stage of Alzheimer’s disease, were subjected to a beginner meditation program of Kirtan Kriya or a music listening program. They were asked to practice this for 12 minutes a day over a period of 12 weeks.
Kirtan Kriya is a form of singing meditation which uses ancient sound to focus and is practiced for greater attention, improved short term memory, concentration and to improve moods.
The study found that both meditation and music groups showed significant improvement in subjective memory function and objective cognitive performance after three months. The areas of cognitive function that showed improvement were those associated with attention, executive functioning, processing speed and subjective memory function.
After six months substantial improvements were noted in memory and cognition among participants.
While both the group showed marked improvements in other related areas such as sleep, wellbeing and quality of life, the effects in the meditation group were particularly more significant. These benefits were maintained after a further three months of post intervention.
The findings of this randomise trials suggest that the mind-body benefit offered by meditation and music can significantly improve cognition and memory loss in adults predisposed to subjective cognitive decline.
A few minutes of meditation will not only give you the benefits we already know of but you can now add enhanced memory function to it. And the same can be said about music. Add a tune or two to your day and know that there are significant physiological changes taking place in your body right now.
Source: Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease
