One of the lessons I share from my elder friends about living a quality life is the notion of lifelong learning. I have published numerous blogs on the positive affect that brain stimulation has in keeping dementia and Alzheimer’s at bay. Here’s another one.
New research suggests that reading books, writing and participating in brain-stimulating activities at any age may preserve memory. Research published in Neurologyå¨, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, studied 294 people who were given tests that measured memory and thinking every year for about six years before their deaths at an average age of 89. They also answered a questionnaire about whether they read books, wrote and participated in other mentally stimulating activities during childhood, adolescence, middle age and at their current age.
The study found that the rate of decline was reduced by 32 percent in people with frequent mental activity in late life, compared to people with average mental activity, while the rate of decline of those with infrequent activity was 48 percent faster than those with average activity.
“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. Wilson, PhD, with Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.
“Based on this, we shouldn’t underestimate the effects of everyday activities, such as reading and writing, on our children, ourselves and our parents or grandparents,” said Wilson.
Source: Science Daily