Musical exercise: A novel strategy for advancing healthy aging

Abstract

Abstract Regular physical activity is associated with lower death rates for adults at any age, even when the physical activity is moderate. It also decreases the risk of heart disease, diabetes, cancer, high blood pressure, and falls, which can lead to debilitating fractures, regardless of health status. Physical activity is also a universally accepted and highly important component of rehabilitation. The objective of this review was to examine the latest research on the impact of music, specifically musical exercise, in the context of optimizing the health status of the elderly. Thus, literature on the topic of exercise and music, located in the Academic Search Complete and PubMed databases and published over the last 25 years, were located and analyzed, and categorized into key themes using a narrative approach. Healthy adults, as well as adults with chronic diseases, can benefit from listening to music while exercising. Music is also helpful for rehabilitation purposes among those with chronic diseases. The data indicated that musical exercising may be useful for advancing healthy aging and for decreasing medical costs in a society that has become increasingly sedentary and where obesity, osteoarthritis, diabetes, osteoporosis, cancer, injuries caused by falls, and cardiac diseases are a significant problem.