UK Study: Brains of Those Who Regularly Go Online Decline More Slowly Than Those Who Don’t
UK Study: Brains of Those Who Regularly Go Online Decline More Slowly Than Those Who Don’t Surfing the internet and sending emails can prevent memory loss in the elderly and may already be helping in the fight against dementia in Britain, say scientists. An eight-year study of almost 6,500 Britons aged from 50 to 90 found that the brains of those who regularly go online are declining more slowly than those who do not. The study was conducted by Brazilian researchers using the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing and published in the Journals of Gerontology. Over eight years, the mental abilities of the 6,442 people were measured alongside other factors that could affect their Û÷cognitive declineÛª such as illness, wealth and education. They were given recall tests on a series of words with different amounts of time in between being asked to remember them. The researchers said that those who were current users of email and the internet were 3 per cent better at recalling the words than non-internet users. Digital literacy ÛÒ defined as the ability to plan activities online ÛÒ employs more of the brainÛªs cognitive networks, exercising the muscles in the brain to keep them healthy.