Research shows how music can help to support positive wellbeing
30 Jun 2022
10 min read
Music for Dementia is encouraging care workers to unlock the power of music to support their own health and wellbeing during challenging times.
Grace Meadows, Campaign Director at Music for Dementia said:
For several decades now, music has been used in dementia care to support and enhance quality of life.
As we recover and rehabilitate from the pandemic, now more than ever we need to use the power of music to support the social care workforce in the essential work they do…music has many therapeutic benefits that can help the care workforce improve their own health and wellbeing.
Research and lived experiences show that music can help reduce the often distressing symptoms of dementia, such as agitation and anxiety, but these benefits are not restricted to the person living with dementia, they also extend to caregivers.
Research suggests that music has significant power to help reduce stress and anxiety. A highly stressful situation can cause your heart rate and blood pressure to produce cortisol, also known as the stress hormone.
Short-term, cortisol can help us find the focus and energy we need to deal with difficult situations but if the body is exposed to excess cortisol for a prolonged period, it causes exhaustion and can lead to anxiety, depression, and other health conditions. Music can be used as a therapeutic tool to help reduce stress and promote healing to improve the overall emotional wellbeing.
Music can also help manage anxiety. Data from University College London (UCL) suggests that people who spent 30 minutes or more each day during the pandemic on arts activities, such as listening to music, have lower reported rates of depression and anxiety, and a greater life satisfaction.
The Spitz Charitable Trust takes professional musicians into care homes, day centres and hospitals and are embedded in Bridgeside Lodge care home in Islington, London. Through live music they connect with people to help improve their wellbeing and quality of life.
Agnes, a nurse from Bridgeside Lodge, said:
For us carers coming to work isn’t always easy. When I come into this environment, music gives me more power to do my job, more energy. It helps the residents to relax and feel less anxious, which helps me to do a better job. A job that I can enjoy because I see the residents happy. And when they are happy then I’m happy.
Grace Meadows concluded:
Emotional exhaustion can impact our ability to switch off.
We want to see care workers use the power of music to support their own health and wellbeing so that they personally experience music’s multiple benefits in their own lives, especially as they support and care for people living with dementia.
Although not a magical cure or a substitute for medication or any other professional intervention, music can be an important element of self-care.
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