If you’re looking to bolster your cognitive abilities and keep your mind sharp throughout your lifetime, you may want to pick up a musical instrument. A recent study published in the International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry found that playing is good for your brain health as you age.
Researchers examined 1,107 people in the U.K. over the age of 40 with an average age of 67.82. Participants self-reported their musical experience via a questionnaire and took part in a cognitive assessment, which tested their working memory and executive function. Researchers then studied how four aspects of musicality — listening to music, playing an instrument, singing and self-reported ability — impacted cognitive behavior and compared that to people who did not have a musical background.
“This large-scale, longitudinal study supports previous research indicating that musical training supports cognitive health by improving memory and lowering risk for age-related cognitive decline,” Dr. Gary Small, a memory, brain and aging expert at Hackensack Meridian Health in New Jersey, told HuffPost via email. Small is not affiliated with the study.
It’s worth noting that 83% of participants were women, so it’s not totally indicative of the general population. Another caveat is that some data was self-reported, said Dr. Arman Fesharaki-Zadeh, a behavioral neurologist and neuropsychiatrist at Yale Medicine in Connecticut, who is not affiliated with the study. Self-reporting leaves room for error; people may misremember their musical background or misunderstand a question.
Playing music largely involves your executive function, so it’s natural for folks with a musical background to see an improvement in the brain, said Dr. Golnaz Yadollahikhales, a neurologist at Cedars-Sinai in California, who is not affiliated with the study.
Your executive function refers to your “ability to multitask and organize oneself, and being able to sequence and prioritize,” Fesharaki-Zadeh…
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