Remember the days when your music teacher would badger you endlessly to keep practising music?
“Practise! It’s good for you”
“You’ll thank me later”
Well… it turns out they were right. Playing an instrument regularly does some pretty amazing things for your health. Research shows that listening to music engages multiple areas of your brain; and playing music is its equivalent of a full body work out.
What playing an instrument does to your brain is just the beginning; practising regularly can have huge beneficial effects on your body too. From motor skills to your immune system; playing for just one hour each week for five months can help you achieve some incredible things.
And for all those who believe themselves to be ‘too old’ to learn, the scientists have proved you wrong too. Practising an instrument – even at an older age – has huge health benefits, including improved verbal and non-verbal memory and word recall. It also combats osteoporosis and builds a defence against dementia and Alzheimer’s.
Basically, we’ve all officially lost any excuse we might have had.
So, put down your ‘brain training’ app, turn off the TV, grab any instrument and start playing!
***
