As we watch our parents and ourselves age, it becomes apparent that taking care of the brain is important to happiness and health in the later years. While your lifestyle certainly plays a role in how your brain ages, there is one thing that you can do to help your brain stay healthy and in shape, and it may not be what you expect. Music lessons appear to have a huge impact on many areas of brain health.
Experts believe that learning to play an instrument can impact children’s intellect, cognition, and perception positively. While studies have not backed up this belief with hard evidence, parents and teachers alike notice the correlation between playing an instrument and improved mental clarity.
In addition, research is showing that music lessons in the early years of life can help protect against cognitive decline and memory loss later on. It does this by creating more neural connections in the brain, which can last for a lifetime. The more connections you make, the more information can flow throughout the brain and to the central nervous system, which benefits your mental and physical state.
Think it’s too late? Research is showing that you can receive the benefits if you decide to take music lessons at any time in your life, including midlife and beyond. New connections can still be made, helping the brain grow stronger and more resilient. Therefore, if you live in Los Angeles, for example, don’t hesitate to search for ‘music lessons Los Angeles’ in your search engine and get started as soon as possible!
Creating new neural connections is not the only benefit you receive when you decide to take music lessons, though. Research has shown that the gray matter inside of professional musicians is larger than the gray matter inside of people who do not play an instrument. The gray matter is composed of things like neurons and nerve fibers, and it is responsible for processing information.
Research has also shown that the white matter in the brain is larger in some musicians. This extra white matter helps to send messages between neurons and improves the overall function of the brain.
There are other important benefits to playing a musical instrument, such as improved auditory memory, which can improve your ability to have and recall conversations with people. This can benefit your personal and work relationships, and have a positive impact over the success you experience in life.
While there are other ways to strengthen the brain, playing an instrument is one of the top avenues to take for brain health. It promotes the usage of many different cognitive functions and brain regions to work together, which helps stimulate the entire brain and keep it strong and healthy.
And, according to research, the benefits seem to be stronger the longer you play, which is a very good reason to pick up an instrument and play it for the rest of your life starting today. Make sure you take music lessons, though, to help you learn how to play properly and stay motivated to keep playing.