Playing The Who at full volume during your teenage wasteland probably didn’t do your hearing any good, but a new study suggests that playing a musical instrument or singing in a choir can help keep you sharp in your later years. 

Music, especially the piano, has been shown to improve memory and the ability to solve complex tasks, known as executive function, according to the PROTECT study. And the longer you continue to play into later life provides even greater benefit. 

Singing is a plus, too – but not by yourself in the shower. The study also suggests that being part of a choir or a group could enhance cognitive skills due to the social factors of taking part in one of those things.

“A number of studies have looked at the effect of music on brain health. Our PROTECT study has given us a unique opportunity to explore the relationship between cognitive performance and music in a large cohort of older adults,” Anne Corbett, professor of dementia research at the University of Exeter, said.

The idea for the study came from University of Exeter medical student Gaia Vetere, an avid pianist, who contacted the PROTECT study team. “As a pianist, I was interested in researching the impact of music and cognition,” she said.

“Being fairly new to the world of research and publishing, this was a challenging but also truly enriching experience.”

Need proof that it works?

Stuart Douglas, a 78-year-old accordion player from Cornwall, has played the squeezebox throughout his life and now plays with the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society and the Cober Valley Accordion Band.

“I learned to play the accordion as a boy living in a mining village in Fife and carried on throughout my career in the police force and beyond. These days I still play regularly, and playing in the band also keeps my calendar full, as we often perform in public,” Douglas said.

And in sort of an odd twist on how the Exeter study plays to both sides of the dementia situation, Douglas said that his group regularly plays at memory cafes.

“So [I] have seen the effect that our music has on people with memory loss, and as older musicians ourselves, we have no doubt that continuing with music into older age has played an important role in keeping our brains healthy,” Douglas said.

Maybe we should take up the accordion, too. These members of the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society, sure look happy, don’t they?