07/19/2024
Playing the violin can help as we age to prevent cognitive decline and improve cognitive function as we age.
Thankfully there has been plenty of research done on the subject and all of it shows that playing a musical instrument can improve one’’s cognitive health, prevent cognitive decline and reduced the risk of dementia by 64%.
Learning to play a musical instrument can help us improve memory, enhance our ability to recall information especially verbal information. Another way in which music prevents cognitive decline is by enhancing brain plasticity. Brain plasticity refers to the brain’s ability to adapt and change in response to new experiences. As we age, our brains can become less plastic, which can make it more difficult to learn new things and adapt to new situations. However, learning to play a musical instrument can help to promote brain plasticity. Playing music can drive the generation of new nerve cells. A study found that people who play music have a 64% reduced risk of developing dementia as we age.
Why is playing music so powerful? “It turns out that practicing a musical instrument might be the most difficult and challenging thing a human brain can do,” says Larry Sherman, Ph.D., a professor in the Division of Neuroscience at the Oregon National Primate Research Center at OHSU.
Can you get the same effect on the brain by simply listening to music and not playing it? It turns out that while listening to music can help improve memory and cognition playing it significantly improves it.
