According to the old saying, music soothes the savage beast. For seniors, music can certainly help soothe the beast of aging. All genres of music can improve and extend one’s quality of life by keeping the body, mind, and spirit focused and uplifted. Here’s how:

Move to The Music When you listen to any up-tempo song, your toes will immediately start a’ tapping and your hands will get right to clapping. The rhythm of dance music gets you moving automatically and any form of exercise improves health, vitality, and quality of life. It’s easy to make a playlist of your favorite up-tempo songs, or ask your friends and family for suggestions, to help keep you moving and motivated.

Sharpen Your Mind Challenge yourself to learn new song lyrics, or brush up on the classics, to help keep your mind sharp and stave off age-related diseases like Alzheimer’s [Click here to learn more about Alzheimer’s disease]. Any mental exercise that challenges you to memorize information helps keep the brain active and prevent brain cells from dying. Learning new songs definitely falls into that category – and it can be a lot of fun, too!

Keep An Ear To The Streets Every generation has a unique musical style and keeping up with current pop music can help you stay “in the loop.” Scary as it may seem, pop music will help you remain young at heart and up-to-date on trends for conversing with younger generations. Pop music will also keep you up-to-date on current slang and street vernacular, so you’ll understand what your grandkids are saying!

Waltz Down Memory Road Listening to music you grew up with will help keep your fondest memories fresh. Songs from yesteryear can evoke feelings of nostalgia and remind of you long ago places and loved ones. Spending time reminiscing helps improve quality of life by reminding us of the good times and all the strong, lasting connections we have made. Nostalgic songs may even remind you of people to reach out to and help rekindle those old friendships.

You Can’t Argue With Free It can be costly to purchase CDs and download digital songs, but a lot of music is still free. The radio is a musical device that never went out of style and radios and earphones have gotten smaller over the years, so you can listen to music wherever and whenever you wish. In addition, many Internet sites offer thousands of hours of free music to listen to via your computer. If you have a laptop or one of several advanced electronic devices, this music becomes even more portable for easy listening.

Get Out There With Music To fight loneliness and make some new friends, consider attending a musical gathering at your local Senior’s or Community Center. Weekly meetings of like-minded participants often gather to sing-along to hours of songs from musicals or other favorites, which is often followed by tasty snacks and beverages. If a group sing-along is not appealing to you, consider attending a karaoke night – those can be fun even if you don’t sing yourself, but are much better when you do! Of course, there are always concerts and symphonies to attend, too.

Gregory Talys writes about health issues, elderly care, and health insurance