FRIDAY, Nov. 14, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Listening to your favorite singers doesn’t just lift your mood, it can also protect your brain.
A new study by Australian researchers has found that older people who listen to music regularly have a 39% lower risk of developing dementia than those who don’t make music a part of their daily lives.
The study, recently published as part of the ASPREE Longitudinal Study of Older Adults, followed more than 10,000 adults aged 70 and older for nearly 10 years and investigated various lifestyle factors associated with healthy aging.
“Music was one of the areas we were interested in,” lead researcher Joanne Ryan, head of Monash University’s Biological Neuropsychiatry and Dementia Unit, told The Washington Post.
“We found that they consistently performed better on tests of memory tasks and overall cognitive function over that time period,” Ryan added.
Of the 10,893 participants, about 7,000 said they listened to music most days, and those who listened frequently had the greatest reduction in dementia risk. The study did not specify which type of music was most beneficial.
Ryan stressed that while the study cannot prove that listening to music directly prevents dementia, the results are strong enough to suggest a possible association.
He pointed out that music has been proven to improve mood and stimulate multiple areas of the brain.
Other researchers say that listening to music activates the motor cortex, sensory cortex, and areas that process emotions and imagination.
“One of the things that seems really important is to make sure that all these areas can communicate with each other in a meaningful way,” Elizabeth Margulis, director of Princeton University’s Music Cognition Laboratory, told the Post.
The study also found that playing music had a small but significant effect, reducing the risk of dementia by about 35%.
“Listening to music has a neuroprotective effect,” neuroscientist Daniel Levitin, who was not involved in the study, told the Post. He added that it helps protect the brain by increasing resilience and connecting new neural pathways.
Detailed information
Harvard Medicine Magazine has more information about how music resonates with the brain.
Source: The Washington Post, November 13, 2025
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