The secret to genius is to carry the spirit of the child into old age, which means never losing your enthusiasm.
—Aldous Huxley
As I write this, I am preparing to turn 71, an event I never imagined when I started practicing law in 1978. My father, a highly successful lawyer, died from advanced Alzheimer’s Disease when he was 90, but his cognitive health started declining well before that. I am continually looking for ways to maintain and improve my cognitive and mental health.
This is not an academic exercise for me. In 2004, I had a nervous breakdown due to stress and burnout, and I quit the active practice of law. Since then, I have been counseling attorneys and other professionals on how to deal with problems associated with stress and emotional health.
Growing up in the 1950s and 1960s, music played a huge role in my development. My parents played the big band sounds of the 1940s while I was slowly discovering rock and roll. Fortunately for me and my quest for cognitive health, studies have shown that music can have a profound effect on stress and mental health.
As I experienced in the 1960s and 1970s, music has been the voice for cultural and societal change as well as protest. It is a vehicle for inclusivity, education, and change. It is also a vehicle to communicate about mental health, as musical artists have always found ways to talk about depression, anxiety, and disorders. Recent studies have shown that listening to music can improve cognitive health as we get older and improve memory and plasticity.
Playing musical instruments can have better results than just passive listening. Learning to play a musical instrument (including drums) can provide your brain a better workout than just engaging the auditory sections of your brain. The good news is we don’t have to be virtuosos to benefit our brains. Both playing and listening are beneficial. Research shows that the longer we have been playing, the better. Fortunately, simply incorporating playing or listening to music even later in life is beneficial. So, bang on those drums all day.
Dancing has also been shown to improve physical and cognitive health. Researchers have found that memory and planning skills improve with exercise. Dancing also improves balance, rhythm, social skills, attention, and focus. It also has the added benefit of releasing endorphins into the brain, which makes us feel better and lowers stress.
Investigations have shown that playing or listening to music prevents cognitive decline in four ways. First, playing or listening to music improves memory, even for people with dementia. Second, music improves neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to learn and change. Third, music lowers stress and anxiety, as well as reducing cortisol levels in the body. Finally, music can increase dopamine production in the brain, which makes us feel better and more attentive and motivated.
In addition to directly helping prevent cognitive decline, music can also have an indirect benefit to our mental and physical health in general. Singing, humming, chanting or any practice that activates the vocal cords will, in turn, activate the Vagus nerve. The Vagus nerve connects the brain with our internal organs and endocrine system through our Autonomic Nervous System.
The Autonomic Nervous System consists of two parts: the Sympathetic Nervous System (fight or flight), which I call the Warrior, and the Parasympathetic Nervous System (rest and digest), which I call the Guru. The importance of the Vagus nerve is critical to our overall health and reducing stress and anxiety. Research has shown that when we activate the Vagus nerve, we turn on the Guru and we can enjoy life. Lawyers who are stressed many times are stuck in Warrior mode, which has detrimental effects on our mental, emotional, and physical health over the long term and can result in burnout. By singing or humming along with our favorite tunes, we relax, enjoy life, and improve our mood.
Stress impairs our cognitive functions, including our memory, attention, flexibility and judgment. It reduces our ability to focus, relax, and manage our emotions. Stress can also cause parts of our brain to atrophy over time. It compromises our immune system, which impairs our health and eventually causes burnout. And lawyers are very susceptible to stress. A recent study by the Massachusetts Bar Association of 4,500 of their members revealed that 77% were burned out. Anything we can do to relieve stress will enhance our longevity and functionality. Music can play an important role in this process.
Select music that helps you relax, especially music that evokes happy memories. Sing in your car during your work commute, hum, or sing along to engage your Guru mode. Learn to play a musical instrument badly. Join a drumming circle. Join a choir. If you are already doing these practices, your cognitive health is probably better than most. It is never too late to start.
