Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga use music to promote brain health

Recently Tony Bennett, who is living with Alzheimer's disease, performed live on stage again with Lady Gaga!

Why am I sharing this?

First of all, because I love Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga.

Second of all, because one of my mental fitness clients is living with dementia.

Third of all (most importantly), because it's of critical importance to raise awareness about brain health and function in every regard to combat fear, shame, and stigma often perpetuated by our disjointed healthcare system.

As a result, we just don't talk enough about brain health and the critical part it plays in our daily lives, in every... possible... way... from our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors to our metabolism, immune system, and cellular activity.

While every part of your brain and body are interconnected and function together as a whole organism, our healthcare system still treats every part of the body as separate independent parts (including mental function as separate from brain function), with specialists assigned to each who often don't learn together, work together, or agree on healthcare practices and treatment.

Whether this is due to how we educate, pay and insure healthcare, or how different focus areas are put in competition with each other for funding, I'm not sure.

What I do know is the same mental fitness practices that apply to prevention and management of mental, emotional, behavioral, and physical health ALSO apply to prevention and management of Alzheimer's and dementia.

Isn't it ironic?

Absolutely not, since they all involve the brain.

The contributing neurological and physiological factors remain the same, including the neurological and physiological effects of stress, emotions, repetition, reinforcement, sleep, diet, and exercise.

When we experience high levels of stress and cortisol in our system, the higher functioning conscious part of the brain is inhibited (including the prefrontal cortex), thereby inhibiting short-term working memory, critical thinking, impulse control, and emotional regulation (among other conscious executive functions and unconscious resting functions as well, like digestion).

Since the prefrontal cortex is the last part of the brain to fully develop, it's also the first part of the brain to deteriorate with dementia, with symptoms associated with the inhibited mental functions of the prefrontal cortex as well (including symptoms of anxiety and depression).

Thankfully, through repetition and neurochemical/emotional reinforcement, the effects of learning music, dance, and routine behaviors become tethered to our long-term memory unconsciously in our autonomic nervous system---what we often call "muscle memory."

This is why we remember songs we sing or hear over and over again, as well as repetitive movements and routine behaviors (e.g. walking, typing, biking, or driving) without much conscious effort.

Music plays an extra important role in brain health and mental function for the number of sensory neurons and parts of the brain involved in the experience, that further activate and engage the brain and nervous system. When you listen to music, it's not only your hearing that is involved but also your heartbeat, breathing rate, and body movements (connected to your autonomic nervous system). Lyrics, tonality, and rhythm all play an important role in your musical experience.

Your nervous system responds to the tonal and rhythmic waves of music much like it does to the sound and heartbeat of a caregiver who held you as a child, or as an adult. Similarly, gently talking, singing softly, or rocking someone in your arms can help calm their heart rate and breathing rate, that in turn lowers their unconscious stress response with a sense of safety and security, that optimizes the higher functioning of their prefrontal cortex and parasympathetic nervous system.

In a sense, your brain and respiration system try to match the sound waves you feel and hear neurologically. This is why you get "pumped up" by music with a fast rhythm, calmed by music with a slow rhythm, soothed by harmonious tones, and unconsciously stressed by dissonant tones (as used in horror movies).

Add to that the experience of repeated physical performance, and you add another layer of healthful brain activity and neurological reinforcement that forges those neuroconnections in your unconscious long-term memory.

Since the autonomic nervous system is ALSO connected to your amygdala (that drives your unconscious stress response), stress can exacerbate neurological conditions that compromise the prefrontal cortex and function of the parasympathetic nervous system---whether due to imbalance, injury, illness, or impairment---which is why stress management is such a critical part of promoting brain health and function in every case.

My aim with 4D Fit Mental Fitness is to help raise awareness about brain health and function by focusing on healthful practices to optimize performance, including all the ways it affects our lives, in every possible way.