Learning a musical instrument could reduce your risk of dementia

Cutting-edge new research shows that learning to play an instrument in later life could reverse age-related brain shrinkage. Photo / 123RF

It’s never too late to get the creative juices flowing. You could join the new wave of amateur potters, inspired by Channel 4′s recent Great Pottery Throwdown; or you might be moved to up your gardening game by the glorious displays at the Chelsea Flower Show; or learn a new language, all of which provide a good brain workout.

But if you’re really serious about sharpening your mental acuity, look no further than Channel 4 series The Piano, a hunt for the UK’s best amateur player, as exciting new research points to the miraculous brain benefits of learning a new instrument.

Don’t worry if your last attempt at playing an instrument amounted to a few clumsy notes of Three Blind Mice on the recorder. In fact, if you’ve never played an instrument before, the brain-boosting benefits could be even more powerful.

The Swiss and German scientists behind the research showed that learning the piano in later life can actually slow down the process of cognitive decline in people with little or no past musical training. After six months of weekly piano lessons, the study participants, who were between 62 and 78 years old, performed better in tests that challenged their working memory, like remembering directions, an ability which tends to decrease with age.

Normally the brain shrinks in our 60s and 70s, a process that, in some cases, ultimately develops into dementia. But after six months of music lessons, this had actually been reversed in some brain regions.

MRI scans showed an increase in grey matter – the outermost layer of the brain, which contains the connections between neurons and small blood vessels – in parts of the cerebellum, which helps with decision making and storage of memories.

So why does playing a new musical instrument elicit these benefits?

Clara James, a former professional violinist, now works as a neuroscience professor at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland, and the University of Geneva.

She explains: “When you play a musical instrument, or you sing, you have auditory, visual, motor and sensory activities, and they all interact. By practising that instrument, neurons from different parts of the brain talk to each other and form connections. Repeated practice makes this more efficient, which is why the grey matter volume increases.”

But as well as working memory, James and her colleagues found that the study participants began to notice improvements in their hearing in certain situations. From mid-life onwards, many people begin to struggle with something dubbed ‘the cocktail party effect’, struggling to distinguish speech from background noise, particularly in busy environments such as a large family gathering, a bar or a restaurant. “The elderly suffer with this terribly,” she says. “But the people in our study got better at recognising speech in noise. Even a small percentage of improvement in this is a big gain for older adults.”

Intriguingly it seems that even simply listening to music can still help the mind, but the benefit we get depends on the level of attention that we devote to it, something which James calls “active listening”.

“You can’t do something else in the meantime,” she says. “To benefit, you need to concentrate on the music and try to get as much as possible out of it, focusing on things like the melody, what instruments are playing, how the theme is changing. If you’re a non-musician, you would need a teacher to guide you on how better to listen to and appreciate music. You won’t get the benefits for your brain if you’re buying shoes and there’s a Mozart symphony playing in the background.”

If you’ve never played an instrument before, the brain-boosting benefits could be even more powerful. Photo / 123RF

Because of these findings, James is now hoping that music therapy can be incorporated into care pathways to help older adults concerned about their cognition.

In the UK, Professor Helen Odell-Miller, who directs the Cambridge Institute for Music Therapy Research at Anglia Ruskin University, has conducted studies finding that singing, improvising on musical instruments and even simply listening to music can reduce agitation and confusion first thing in the morning, and at night-time, for people living with dementia.

“It’s not changing the fact that they have dementia, which is a brain disease, but it’s extending their powers of cognition and the ways that they can relate to loved ones, as well as lifting the mood and helping people who otherwise might be very confused a lot of the time and not know how to converse,” she says.

Odell-Miller and her colleagues are now working with care home provider Anchor Hanover to roll out music therapy services in 13 locations across the UK.

One patient who has seen benefits of piano lessons in later life is 76-year-old Alta Melgar, who took part in a clinical trial being conducted by researchers at the University of South Florida to see if teaching older adults to play the piano for the first time could help to boost cognitive functions, such as memory and decision making.

Melgar took lessons for two hours every day for four months, in her retirement community in Tampa, Florida.

The results of the trial were intriguing. Melgar showed significant improvements in working memory, the ability to keep information active in our brain for short periods of time.

For Melgar, who had previously sung in a choir, but never attempted to play the piano, it was a step outside of her comfort zone. “It was a wonderful workout for my brain,” she says. “It was exhausting at times, but I was definitely more focused and alert and it made me feel motivated and energised.”

Music can even prove a potent therapeutic tool for those with advanced dementia.

Odell-Miller describes working with a patient who was unable to hold a conversation yet was capable of improvising jazz on the piano. James has encountered individuals who can no longer recognise their own children, but can still play a musical duet with them.

“It appears that even in these severe cases, music can have revival effects where lost brain connections are temporarily restored,” says James. “We think this is partly due to the production of the brain chemical dopamine, which is stimulated by music. But also, children understand music before they understand language. It’s the first faculty to come and the last to go.”

The scientists are adamant it is never too late to begin learning an instrument, and doing so at any stage of life can have benefits for your mind, making it more resilient to age-related decline.

“It’s very much a case of use it or lose it,” says James. “The brain can continue to adapt and learn new things right through your lifespan. I recently met a lady who started playing the violin for the first time at the age of 90, which is very courageous and a great example. She might not play at Carnegie Hall, but it may give her some advantages.”

There is also the simple aspect of how music can improve your quality of life. After four months of intense piano training, Melgar found she enjoyed it so much that she bought her own keyboard to continue practising.

“I now play every day,” she says. “I’m also starting to teach my 3-year-old grandson how to play. You have to keep challenging yourself and trying new things as you get older.”