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June
21, 2002:
Playing Music & Your Health
Interview
with Joe Lamond, President & CEO, International
Music Products Association
Mike
Carruthers:
Just as diet and exercise are important to good health as we get
older, it appears that making music may also be of benefit.
Joe
Lamond:
Making
music is part of being human. Now we have some good, exciting
research results that indicate that making music is good for
your health.
Joe Lamond,
President & CEO of NAMM,
the International Music Products Association.
The
research was conducted by Michigan State University, and they
looked at older adults involved in learning to play a musical
instrument in a group setting. When the music-making group was
compared to a test group of similar adults not making music,
they found some interesting results. For example, they found
those people involved in playing music had decreased levels
of anxiety, depression, and loneliness, and increased levels
of human growth hormone.
Joe says
it is likely that part of this is simply the fact that these
people were involved in a group activity, that the social aspect
of playing music together is a contributing factor.
But
it was the music that was the glue that brought these people
together. And it's interesting, Mike, that the type of music
they played was important. These older adults were playing music
from the days when they were first maturing and dating, and
that brought back a lot of positive memories. So it isn't just
playing music, but playing music important to them. More research
needs to be done, but it seems clear that learning to play music,
and playing music with other people, has absolutely no downside
and may, in fact, be very beneficial to a long and healthy life.
At somethingyoushouldknow.net,
I'm Mike Carruthers, and that's "Something You Should Know".
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