Worldwide, no less than 50 million people are affected by Madness every year, estimates the World Health Organization (WHO). “It manifests itself by an increasing impairment of memory and cognitive functions as well as behavioral disorders”. This is one of the main causes of Autonomy loss. But certain habits can help reduce the risks. In January 2023, a study published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) came back to 9 good habits to protect your brain healthadvising in particular to adopt a healthy and balanced diet, stimulate your brainnot to smoke, not to drink alcohol, to take care of your sleep, to take your blood pressure regularly or to be vigilant with certain medications.
More recently, researchers from the University of Exeter in England questioned the benefits of music in preventing brain decline and the onset of dementia. They noticed that adults who played a musical instrument after age 40 had better memories and performed complex tasks more easily. Their results are published in theInternational Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.
Brain health: playing a musical instrument would preserve it
To arrive at these results, the researchers based themselves on a panel of more than 25,000 people registered in the PROTECT study, conducted for 10 years. Participants were aged over 40 and completed an online questionnaire aimed at measuring their musical habits throughout their lives. They were asked whether they had ever played a musical instrument and how often.
Additionally, participants were asked to complete (online) assessments to measure their memory and executive functions (i.e. complex tasks). It should be noted that the PROTECT study aims to understand how the brain ages and why some people develop dementia.
The piano would be the most effective instrument for brain health
The researchers noticed that participants playing a musical instrument had better memory and performed complex tasks more easily. But do all musical instruments have the same protective effect? Specialists point out that the participants who played you piano had best results. Plus, it’s never too late to do it because “continuing to play later in life offers even greater benefits”, write the researchers. THE chant would also be beneficial. “The work also suggests that singing was also linked to better brain healthalthough this could also be due to social factors linked to membership in a choir or group”, write the researchers.
“Although additional research is needed to investigate this relationship, our results indicate that promoting musical education would be a valuable element of public health initiatives aimed at promoting protective lifestyle for brain healthas is encouraging older adults to return to music at an older age”, specifies in a press release Anne Corbett, professor of dementia research at the University of Exeter. Specialists believe that music practice could be included in a healthy aging program to combat the risk of dementia.
Source :
- The relationship between playing musical instruments and cognitive trajectories: Analysis from a UK ageing cohort – International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.
- Playing an instrument linked to better brain health in older adults – University of Exeter (communiqué).
- Dementia – World Health Organization (WHO)
