Playing the piano could keep dementia at bay.
Scientists have recommended that people in their sixties and seventies should learn how to play the instrument as it strengthens white matter – brain tissue that degrades when problems with memory and concentration set in.
The benefits were seen when a person spent six months having weekly lessons on the piano.
Studies have previously claimed that playing a musical instrument can protect against the incurable brain condition but most have analysed professionals who have been playing since childhood.
The latest study recruited 121 men and women in their sixties and seventies who had never played an instrument and scans of those involved before and after the sessions revealed no decline in brain function.
Writing in the journal Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, the experts said: “These changes do appear to be related to piano training intensity.”
