Introduction: Today the structural changes in the brain during middle years and subsequently creating defects in cognitive function and dementia in old age are rapidly increasing. The physical exercise and music are non-pharmacological methods for improving cognitive functions. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of combined intervention of music and aerobic exercise on mental state of the middle-aged people.
Methodology: A total of 30 women (mean age of 59 years) were selected as available samples and randomly divided into control and experimental groups. The experimental group performed aerobic exercise with music for 16 weeks, two sessions per week and for 1 hour per session. In order to assess the quality of consciousness in groups, Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) was applied.
Results: Statistical analysis using by analysis of variance. Indicated no significant difference between the experimental and control groups at pretest while a significant differences was found between them at post-test. Furthermore, the inter-group analysis showed a significant improvement in the mental status of experimental groups while no significant improvement was found in the control group.
Conclusion: The difference between the two groups and significant progress in the experimental group comparing to the control group, presenting the development of executive functions and mechanism supporting learning. The mechanisms which may be involved in the processing time and directing attention and can lead to the improvement of mental functions. Hence this improvement maybe attributed to multifaceted nature of combined exercise and music, since motivating some parts of the brain such as parietal lobe through music on one hand and somatosensory function on the other hand can lead to improvement of cognitive functions.