Klarinet Archive - Posting 000149.txt from 2011/05

From: John Dablin <jdablin@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Wind Instruments and Respiratory Infections
Date: Wed, 25 May 2011 18:33:55 -0400

I think this is very credible. I know or know of a number of people
still playing well into their 80s and who are as active and alert as
people 10 years younger. I wasn't aware of a benefit to the arteries,
but intuitively the deep breathing needed to play a wind instrument must
help oxygenate the body, and I'll speculate that lack of oxygen
contributes to the degeneration of inactive elderly people. Also the
mental exercise required to read and interpret music is known to help
maintain the brain, so it sounds like a win-win all round.

I'm 65, so I hope so anyway!

John Dablin
Aylesbury UK

On 25/05/11 19:15, Dan Leeson wrote:
> There is another side to the health issue.
>
> In 1996 I suffered a heart attack and had to have a stent implanted in one
> of my coronary arteries. The surgeon who did the job asked me what wind
> instrument did I play.
>
> I had not told him anything about my playing history and asked how he knew I
> played an instrument that required blowing air into something.
>
> His response was that he had been putting in stents for years and those with
> the largest coronary asterisks were generally woodwind or brass players. In
> effect, playing a blowing instrument was healthy in that the exercise of
> playing over a long period of time increased the size of the coronary
> arteries. And if the person did not die of some other cause, their life
> expectancy related to heart disease was extended because of this phenomenon.
>
> Don't yell at me if you don't believe this. I'm just telling you what the
> surgeon told me.
>
> Dan Leeson
>
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