Want to keep your mind healthy throughout your life?    16   an instrument. A new study found that musicians    17  brains that function better than their peers well into old age.Researchers    18   the mental abilities of senior citizens and discovered that musicians performed better at a number of skills. In   19   , they excelled at visual memory tasks.  20  musicians had similar verbal capabilities to non-musicians, their ability to memorize new words was better, too. Perhaps most importantly, the musicians’ IQ  21      were higher overall than those who spent their lives listening to music    22    performing it.The experience of musicians also played a role in how  23    their minds were. The younger they began to play their instruments, the better their minds performed at the mental tasks.    24   , the total number of years they played instruments throughout their life      25    how strong their brains remained years later. A preliminary study of 70 older participants, with different musical experience over their lifetimes, provides a connection   26   musical activity and mental balance in old age. The results revealed     27    participants with at least 10 years of musical experience had better performance in nonverbal memory, naming, and executive processes in advanced age     28    non-musicians.The study also found that musicians who     29      in their spare time had even higher-functioning brain capabilities. This finding supports    30    recent study that reported people who walk regularly maintain healthier brains. With that in mind, perhaps joining a marching band will make you the smartest person at the retirement home in the future.

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