The researchers found that people who participated in mentally challenging activities most often, both early and late in life, had a slower rate of decline in memory compared to those who did not engage in such activities. They were asked about how frequently they participated in such activities during childhood, in young adulthood, in middle age and as seniors in their current lives.Īfter they died, at an average age of 89, their brains were examined at autopsy for evidence of the physical signs of dementia, including the brain plaques and tangles of Alzheimer’s disease. The study participants also completed questionnaires about how often they engaged in mentally stimulating tasks, such as reading books, visiting a library or writing letters. For this study, researchers looked closely at 294 elderly men and women, most in their 80s, who were given tests of memory and thinking every year in the last years of their lives. The study looked at a subset of participants in the large and ongoing Rush Memory and Aging Project, which is looking at men and women over many years to look for clues to Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. The findings appeared in Neurology, the American Academy of Neurology’s medical journal. Wilson, at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. “Our study suggests that exercising your brain by taking part in activities such as these across a person’s lifetime, from childhood through old age, is important for brain health in old age,” said study author Robert S. The findings add to growing evidence that mental challenges like reading and doing crossword puzzles may help to preserve brain health and stave off symptoms of Alzheimer’s in old age. Reading books and magazines, writing and participating in other mentally stimulating activities, no matter your age, can help to keep memory and thinking skills intact, a new study suggests.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |