There are so many reasons why playing an instrument is good for you and here is another which is arguably one of the best! The University of Montreal has confirmed musicians may make the safest drivers!!
The experiment was fairly straight forward; they measured the reaction times of 16 musicians and 19 non musicians asking them to click a mouse button when they sensed a vibration or noise.
The musicians reacted around 30 percent faster than non-musicians.
“We found significantly faster reaction times with musicians,” said lead author, doctoral student Simon Landry.
“These results suggest for the first time that long-term musical training reduces simple non-musical auditory, tactile and multisensory reaction times. Reaction times are related to cognitive function. Having faster reaction times could help reacting to something when you’re driving , if your attention is focused on driving, or if your job requires you to react to something quickly.”
A simple test but adds weight again to the benefits of learning an instrument and suggests that learning an instrument in later life could improve mental ability and help prevent the brain decline. It is simply logic really!
“As people get older, for example, we know their reaction times get slower. So if we know that playing a musical instrument increases reaction times, then maybe playing an instrument will be helpful for them,” added Mr Landry.
“The more we know about the impact of music on really basic sensory processes, the more we can apply musical training to individuals who might have slower reaction times.”
So there we have it, another reason to learn to play.