For Immediate Release:
November 2, 2005
Contact:
Jodi Burack (jburack@giles.com)
Giles Communications
(914) 798-7132
Mary Luehrsen(maryl@namm.com)
International Foundation for Music Research
(914) 933-0516
Older Adults Benefit from Participation in Music
—Preliminary Results of National Study Show Better Health, Fewer Falls, Slower Rise in Doctor Visits and Medication Use—
WASHINGTON (November 2, 2005)—Results from an ongoing study strongly indicate that musical activity carries significant wellness benefits for older adults, according to study leader Gene Cohen, M.D., Ph.D.
As part of the research project, titled “The Impact of Professionally Conducted Cultural Programs on Older Adults,” a group of seniors averaging 80 years in age took part in chorale programs at The Levine School of Music in Washington, D.C. beginning in December, 2001. After two years of measurement compared to a control group of similar individuals, the music participants:
- Reported better health and fewer falls
- Showed a slower rate of increase in doctor visits than non-participants
- Increased medication usage at a significantly lower rate than non-participants
- Showed greater improvements in depression, loneliness and morale
- Increased social interaction, while non-participants decreased interaction
Also known as the “Creativity and Aging” study, the project is currently assessing the same factors in a second group involved in visual arts, theater, writing and jewelry-making at the Brooklyn, N.Y. center Elders Share the Arts, and in a third group working with textiles, painting, mask-making, Chinese brush painting and poetry at the Center for Elders and Youth in the Arts in San Francisco.
“What’s significant is that the music-making seniors actually showed significant improvement in categories such as falls, social interaction and overall health, where we might have expected only to slow the decline in these areas,” Dr. Cohen indicates.
The study is being funded by a consortium led by The National Endowment for The Arts (NEA) that also includes The Center for Mental Health Services, The National Institute of Mental Health, AARP’s National Retired Teachers Association, The Stella and Charles Guttman Foundation and The International Foundation for Music Research.
The Creativity and Aging Study is also the basis for policymaking recommendations to the 2005 White House Conference on Aging as presented by the White House Mini-Conference on Aging and Creativity held at the National Endowment for the Arts in May, 2005. The recommendations concern greater access to active participation in music and the arts as part of programs to sustain health and self-sufficiency for seniors.
These findings reflect the changes in thinking that Dr. Cohen describes in The Creative Age: Awakening Human Potential in the Second Half of Life (William Morrow & Company, 2000) and an upcoming book, The Mature Mind (Basic Books). This new research indicates that old age, once considered a period of decline and difficulty, is actually a period of creativity and new potential in the human lifespan. Dr. Cohen notes that old age does not cause medical, emotional and social problems, but that these problems can be controlled with interventions that should include active participation in music and the arts because of their human relevancy and efficacy.
