A growth advisor for Change.org, LimeBike, and Zwift, Ed Baker enjoys playing such instruments as the piano.
Below are four ways playing the piano improves the brain:
- Teaches multitasking. Piano players are tasked with forming chords, keeping time, maintaining posture, controlling their breath, and moving their left and right hands separately all at the same time. This constant requirement to split attention makes piano players extremely adept at multitasking since their brain becomes wired for handling multiple tasks at once.
- Boosts creativity. When faced with an open-ended problem, piano players have the unique ability to think divergently. This means they can come up with new, creative solutions that might not occur to their non-piano-playing peers.
- Promotes a stronger brain. Playing the piano strengthens the bridge between the left and right hemispheres of the brain. While this may seem unimportant, these hemispheres are responsible for controlling each half of the body. A stronger connection between them means the body can operate in a more balanced way.
- Controls mental health. Among adults, playing the piano has been linked to lower levels of depression and anxiety. Additionally, the piano increases memory, thus delaying age-related memory disorders, and alleviates symptoms of stroke and PTSD.
