How a musician can stave off dementia

 Young people who learn a musical instrument or a second language are protecting themselves against dementia, a study suggests.

Scientists at Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, in Toronto, Canada, scanned the brains of 41 young adults while they completed mental tasks.

They found that the brains of those who played an instrument or could speak another language were far more efficient and used less neural activity.

The researchers suggest this brain efficiency could protect against mental decline in later life. Dr Claude Alain, first author of the paper and senior scientist at Baycrest’s Rotman Research Institute, said: “These findings show that musicians and bilinguals require less effort to perform the same task, which could also protect them against cognitive decline. They also demonstrate that personal experiences can shape how the brain functions.”

The study was published in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.