Dementia is a terribly debilitating disease that affects brain functions such as memory, attention, language and problem solving in older people. It goes beyond the decline that is normally expected in the aging process. Since there is no cure for most cases of dementia, prevention is the best course of action. That’s why new research on preventing dementia is so exciting.
A recent study of people over 60 found that those who stay mentally active, have a much lower risk of developing dementia. Dr. Valenzuela from the University of New South Wales followed more than 50 people for 3 years. He found that people who engaged in some kind of mental activity had 46% less shrinkage in the hippocampus, a brain region that is central in memory. “This is a significant finding because a small hippocampus is a specific risk factor for developing Alzheimer’s disease,” Dr. Valenzuela said.
This finding adds to Dr. Valenzuela’s previous research which reviewed 22 studies of over 29,000 people across the world. He recently explained that the most interesting finding of that review was that the effects of negative life experiences, such as economic deprivation and low educational achievements, could be offset to some extent by engaging in mentally challenging activities after retirement.
In a recent interview, he said “People’s risk for dementia is related to ongoing mental activity post-retirement independent of their activity levels prior to that… It’s very much in keeping with the physical body that if you keep active and you keep exercising, then it’s good for your overall physical health. The same principle applies to brain health.”
What kinds of activities are good for staving off dementia? According to Dr. Valenzuela, most. “It is vital that everyone is involved in cognitive, social and physical activities in later life such as dancing, tai chi, sailing, travelling and learning a new language, for example. [Activities] could involve ongoing study, reading, social activities like volunteering for charity groups, complex leisure activities like chess or artwork, things like that.”
Want to read more about it? See the Science Daily article on this research.
But wait, there’s more. It turns out that physical exercise is also good for preventing dementia. Recently, a study conducted by the University of Western Australia found that for people over 50, walking for a total of 2.5 hours a week can significantly lessen memory problems. The study looked at the effect of walking in 170 volunteers.
Professor Lautenschlager explained “What we basically found was that they did significantly better on these tests than the control group who didn’t have the exercise program. And interestingly, this finding wasn’t just there directly after they finished the intervention but also 6 months and 12 months after they stopped the intervention, which probably means that the effect of the physical activity lasted for a bit longer than just the immediate effect.”
Want more info? Read about it on ABC online.
