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WATCH: Why your brain actually needs music

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Listening to music makes us happy, brings smiles to our faces and gets us moving. 

Dutch professor of neuropsychology Erik Scherder, says that music is not only beneficial for making on feel better, it also helps with brain development.

According to the Brain and Creativity Institute in California, learning to play a musical instrument induces brain and behavioural changes in children that are not linked to pre-existing biological traits.

Because music evokes such strong emotions and induces brain development, Scherder wants more schools to offer music education. He said that up until the age of 30, the white matter in the brain and the prefrontal cortex — the part of the brain which is in charge of certain behaviours and decision-making — is still developing.

Scherder added that to encourage development and stimulation, you would need to challenge the brain as much as possible and this is where music helps.

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