Picking up an instrument in your 70s might do more than fill the time. A new Kyoto University study found older adults who kept practicing music over four years maintained their memory performance and showed less age-related brain shrinkage than those who stopped.

The research focused on working memory, one of the mental skills most vulnerable to age-related decline. It also looked closely at the putamen and the cerebellum, two brain regions that commonly shrink and become less active with age, and that previous neuroscience studies have identified as especially responsive to musical instrument training.

Researchers followed participants from an earlier 2020 project, which had found that older adults who practiced a musical instrument for the first time over four months showed improvements in memory performance and putamen function. At the start of that original study, participants had an average age of 73.

After the first four months of training, about half of the participants kept practicing their instrument for more than three years. The others stopped and took up different hobbies instead.

Four years later, researchers invited the participants back for MRI scans focused on the putamen and cerebellum. They also completed several cognitive tests, including a verbal working memory assessment.

At the beginning of the study, there were no significant differences between the groups in brain structure or cognitive performance. After four years, the gap had changed.

Participants who stopped practicing music showed declines in verbal working memory and reduced gray matter volume in the right putamen. Those who kept playing did not show the same drop in memory performance or the same degree of putamen shrinkage.

The researchers also found greater activity across broader areas of both cerebellums in the participants who continued practicing than in those who stopped.

“We were surprised to find that the effects on the brains of elderly people who start and continue practicing an instrument were also concentrated in these two areas of the brain, and that this was an effective way to prevent age-related decline,” corresponding author Kaoru Sekiyama said.

The findings suggest learning and continuing to play a musical instrument may help delay or reduce some of the cognitive changes linked to normal aging, even for people who start later in life.

“It’s never too late to start playing an instrument, and starting in old age may have major benefits,” Sekiyama said.

Sekiyama said music may also help people who have difficulty taking part in physical exercise.

“For those who struggle to engage in physical activity due to body pain or other problems, playing musical instruments can be a great alternative. How fortunate that practicing music has such a positive impact on the brain and cognitive function!” says Sekiyama.

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