Why learning a musical instrument can improve your memory and your immune system.
Humans have been making music for thousands of years, but for Michael Mosley and our volunteer Matthew, the musical journey is only just beginning. Playing a musical instrument has been shown to strengthen your memory and lift your mood. It can even reduce chronic inflammation. Dr Sofia Seinfeld from the Open University in Catalonia tells Michael why it’s never too late to start making music, and how it can enhance your cognitive abilities by activating regions of the brain associated with motor co-ordination and the processing of emotions. Meanwhile, Matthew gets to grips with the ukulele to see if he can master a tune and boost his wellbeing.
Series Producer: Nija Dalal-Small
Editor: Zoë Heron
A BBC Studios production for BBC Sounds / BBC Radio 4.
Source: BBC Radio 4 – Just One Thing – with Michael Mosley, Play an Instrument
For many young people in Paris, it’s a right of passage to live in a very small, very French type of apartment, called a “chambre de bonne.” Literally, a maid’s room. A chambre de bonne is usually one small room, on the top floor of a five- or six-story apartment building, and it’s usually just big enough to fit a bed and a table. It’s affordable housing in a city where finding housing is nearly impossible. But while cute, they are also cramped and can be unpleasant spaces for people who have to live there, a living embodiment of the gap between the rich in Paris, and everyone else.
Source: Chambre de Bonne – 99% Invisible
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