Medicine
fromFast Company
1 day agoStudy reveals a surprising cause of cognitive decline-and the key to reversing it
A single protein, FTL1, is linked to cognitive decline, but its levels can be reduced to reverse damage in the aging brain.
Learning to play a musical instrument can protect your brain from aging, building up a defense against cognitive decline that lasts a lifetime. Researchers from Canada and China discovered older adults who had spent years playing music were better at understanding speech in noisy environments, like a crowded room, compared to those who didn't play music. Their brains worked more like younger people's brains, needing less energy to focus than older non-musicians' brains had to use to make up for age-related mental declines.