Musical instruments do more than just spread the joy and thrill of music. Whether you play musical instruments for fun or professionally, there are many emotional, mental, and physical benefits that come out of it. And while kids are usually encouraged to start playing them when young, adults can also play musical instruments to help improve their psychological health, memory, and focus.
How it Improves Memory
In most cases, people tend to lose their memory when they get older. But playing musical instruments is a great way of keeping your memory sharp, even as you grow into the late stages of your life.
When playing musical instruments, both sides of the brain are used, and the volume of the grey matter increases. When the peripheral and central nervous systems are involved, the brain is able to process emotional, auditory, visual, and sensory information.
A person who plays a musical instrument has a better cognitive function when compared to one who doesn’t. Your memory power strengthens and the skill also helps improve literacy skills, verbal memory, and spatial reasoning.
Playing musical instruments is simply a workout for the brain, which translates to better mental health and better memory. In fact, playing musical instruments have been used as a way of slowing down the onset of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, as well as helping stroke patients recover.
How it Helps You Focus
When training your musical instruments, you need to coordinate between reading the sheet music and playing an instrument. Playing an instrument involves a lot, from changing key signatures to tempo markings, notes, and more, it all depends on the instrument you are playing.
As such, the person playing the instrument is forced to concentrate in order to get it right. To achieve the best outcome, you need to know which instruments you want to learn how to play, and how to choose the best instruments.
When playing musical instruments, your brain is actively engaged, and so it helps you stay alert and increases your attention span. Sometimes, people with attention deficit disorder (ADD) are usually encouraged to play musical instruments to help alleviate their condition.
While your focus increases from playing these instruments, this also transfers to other aspects of your life, boosting your general ability to focus on other things that are not music-related.
How it Boosts Your Psychological Health
Playing musical instruments goes a long way to improving your psychological health in different ways. And when compared to other forms of creative arts, it is an excellent way of relieving stress and significantly reducing anxiety levels.
When playing musical instruments, you direct all your concentration there, forgetting all your worries, and the more you indulge in playing the more you forget about what is stressing you.
When a kid learns to play an instrument, they are likely going to perform in front of an audience in school or even other competitions. Once they master how to play the instrument properly, they are not afraid to play for an audience as they are confident in what they can do.
The skill helps to prevent cognitive impairment and when one starts at an early age, it helps with the brain’s plasticity when you grow older. All this helps to keep you in a good mental state while avoiding old-age conditions.
Take Away
So, whether music tickles your thrill or not, it is a great way of keeping your mental and psychological health in check. It involves your brain, so when playing musical instruments, you are not only practicing, but also restructuring the brain and enhancing its abilities. With some instruments, you might need to enroll in classes for motivation, but you can also find easier ones that you can practice on your own.