Music Therapy Improves Sleep Quality and Mental Health in the Elderly

by | Apr 25, 2016 | 2010, Brain Health, Cognitive Health, Depression, Sleep

Written by Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS. Four weeks of listening to 30 minutes per week of different music genres significantly improved sleep quality by 27.3%  and decreased depression by 59.9% in participating subjects compared to control. 

A significant health concern in the elderly is decreased sleep quality (1, 2), characterized by insomnia, irregular sleep patterns and daytime sleepiness, and affecting half of elderly subjects (3, 4).  The health concern arises from research showing that poor sleep quality increases the risk of accidents, falls, poor health status and death (5, 6).

In addition to the physical health risks from poor sleep quality, mental health risks can also be present in the form of depression, with as many as 15% of older adults having depressive symptoms (7).  And because medications for depression carry health risks that include deterioration of emotional and mental health, and impaired psychomotor abilities and cognitive functioning (8, 9), more natural approaches to address sleep quality and depression in the elderly are needed.

Fortunately, a 2010 study (10) suggests that music therapy may improve sleep quality in the elderly. In the study, 42 subjects (19 men, 23 women) aged 60 to 85 were instructed to listen to music for 30 minutes per week for 4 weeks. The music choices were provided by the researchers and included meditative, Chinese classical, western classical and western modern jazz. All were slow and flowing pieces, approximately 60 to 80 beats per minute (11).

Every week, researchers measured the subjects’ blood pressure and heart rate. They also assessed their depression levels with the Geriatric Depression Score (GDS-15) (12) and their sleep quality with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PQSI) (13).

After 4 weeks, the researchers, noted “statistically significant reductions” in the music group, with a 29% improvement in sleep quality (7.6 to 5.1) compared to a 1.7% decrease in the control group (6.1 to 6.0, p < 0.001. In addition, those in the music group had a 48.8% decrease in depressive symptoms (4.1 to 2.1) compared to an 11.1% increase in the control group (1.8 to 2.0, p < 0.001). No statistically significant benefits were seen for systolic blood pressure (p = 0.165), diastolic blood pressure (p = 0.1965) or heart rate (p = 0.710).

When suggesting how music may elicit these healthful responses in the elderly, the researchers pointed to an earlier study (13) that “music evokes psychophysiological responses” because of its’ influence on the emotional center of the brain called the limbic system.  For the researchers, “The findings contribute to knowledge about the effectiveness of soft slow music used as an intervention to improve depression and sleep quality in elderly people” and that the positive effects of music on health “are worthy of further investigation in larger trials.”

Source: Chan, Moon Fai, Engle Angela Chan, and Esther Mok. “Effects of music on depression and sleep quality in elderly people: A randomised controlled trial.” Complementary therapies in medicine 18.3 (2010): 150-159.

© 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Posted April 25, 2016.

Greg Arnold is a Chiropractic Physician practicing in Hauppauge, NY.  You can contact Dr. Arnold directly by emailing him at PitchingDoc@msn.com or visiting his web site at www.PitchingDoc.com.

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