Between 2008 and 2010 the UK government Foresight’s ‘Mental capital and wellbeing’ project considered how to improve a nations wellbeing through life. The Five Ways to Wellbeing were the resulting set of evidence-based public health messages. These messages have recently been updated to reflect Five Ways to Wellbeing at a time of social distancing. Even a small improvement in wellbeing can help to decrease health problems and help people to flourish. This document sets out 5 actions to improve personal wellbeing. The 5 ways to wellbeing are: Connect, Be Active, Take Notice, Keep Learning and Give Let’s look today at public health message number 2 – Be Active I don’t…

Hello Dear Reader Since being on maternity leave I’ve had the opportunity to refresh my thoughts on the purpose of this blog. As a result, we are going to try something a bit different. I hope you like it. Since I began writing in 2009 I’ve used a simple formula of presenting summaries from recent papers in the music psychology literature. This has worked well. However, I have received comments about the role of music in wellbeing where people want more than just scientific papers, they want insights – they want to know how music might help them. I am not a music care professional or therapist so I am…