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MONDAY, July 17, 2023 (HealthDay Information) — Writing letters, taking courses and enjoying mentally stimulating video games like chess in your older years may decrease your threat of dementia over the subsequent decade, a brand new examine suggests.
Researchers in Australia discovered that journaling, utilizing a pc, taking training courses and different “literacy enrichment” actions would possibly reduce the chance of growing dementia by 11%. Taking part in video games, playing cards or chess and doing crosswords or different puzzles may slash the chance by 9%.
“These findings spotlight the sorts of actions which can be most useful to protect cognitive well being with growing old,” mentioned lead researcher Joanne Ryan, head of the organic neuropsychiatry and dementia unit at Monash College, in Melbourne.
Different actions linked to a decrease threat of dementia included inventive actions, reminiscent of craftwork, woodwork or metalwork, and portray or drawing. Even passive actions, reminiscent of studying, watching tv, and listening to music or the radio helped thwart psychological decline, however to a lesser diploma.
Interpersonal networks, social actions and outings, nonetheless, didn’t have an effect on dementia threat, the researchers famous.
This examine can’t show that these psychological actions really forestall or delay dementia, solely that there appears to be a correlation, Ryan mentioned.
“We will’t present a cause-and-effect relationship,” she mentioned. “However these actions doubtless assist keep and construct neural networks within the mind, and thru these actions, we are able to develop new information and new methods of fascinated about issues, which we confer with as constructing cognitive reserve.”
These actions may assist individuals keep good cognitive perform, even when they’ve a point of Alzheimer’s or vascular dementia, she mentioned. “They’ll develop compensatory mechanisms and, thus, don’t develop dementia till later,” Ryan defined.
It’s potential there are different causes for the findings, Ryan mentioned. “Though we accounted for issues like variations in training and socioeconomic standing, in addition to well being standing, it’s potential that individuals who have interaction usually in these psychological actions are totally different in different ways in which we haven’t been capable of account for, which explains why they’ve diminished dementia threat,” she mentioned.
It’s unlikely that mentally stimulating actions can utterly forestall dementia however they may delay its onset, Ryan added.
“Continued studying and engagement in new actions which problem and stimulate the thoughts could also be one of the best ways to assist promote good cognitive perform with age,” she prompt.
One professional agreed that maintaining your mind energetic may also help preserve it wholesome.
“Music, artwork, different actions, crossword puzzles, issues like that completely assist scale back the transitioning into dementia,” mentioned Dr. Theodore Unusual, chairman of drugs and a gerontologist at Staten Island College Hospital in New York Metropolis.
“Even plaque buildup might sluggish over time if you happen to proceed to do these cognitive actions that use the mind,” he mentioned.
The mind isn’t a muscle, Unusual mentioned, however like a muscle, it could atrophy if not used. It’s not clear, nonetheless, how psychological exercise protects the mind, he famous.
Nonetheless, “a wholesome life-style, an energetic life-style, a life-style full of actions that make the most of the mind are essential to maintain the mind functioning for as lengthy a time period as you may,” Unusual added.
For the examine, Ryan and her colleagues collected knowledge on greater than 10,300 women and men with a median age of 74 (half youthful, half older), who took half within the ASPREE Longitudinal Research of Older Individuals. All had been in comparatively good well being. From March 2010 by way of November 2020, the researchers appeared on the contributors’ life and who developed dementia.
The report was revealed on-line July 14 in JAMA Community Open.
Extra info
For extra on maintaining your mind wholesome, head to the Alzheimer’s Affiliation.
SOURCES: Joanne Ryan, PhD, head, organic neuropsychiatry and dementia unit, Monash College, Melbourne, Australia; Theodore Unusual, MD, chairman, medication, gerontologist, Staten Island College Hospital, New York Metropolis; JAMA Community Open, July 14, 2023, on-line
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