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Aging-related cognitive decline is not inevitable. Are there activities that can slow or delay this decline in intellectual faculties? A new study details those that preserve the health of your brain.
The decline in cognitive functions related to aging can be reduced. Conversely, dementia (Alzheimer’s is just one example) or even a simple mild cognitive impairment are also responsible for a more obvious and rapid deficit in these functions. How can you preserve your cognitive function or delay its decline? American scientists from the School of Public Health at the University of Texas have taken an interest in the subject.
Games, reading, puzzles… These activities preserve your brain
For this work, the researchers looked at a cohort gathering data from 5,932 people aged at least 50 in 2012. These volunteers had mild cognitive impairment and were part of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) from 2012 to 2020.
The researchers analyzed the responses to seven questions asked each year to participants about how often they engaged in cognitively stimulating activities such as reading, gaming, and certain hobbies. They then classified the volunteers according to their levels of participation into three categories: low, medium, and high.
The more you stimulate your brain, the better the results.
Not surprisingly, “The high-level participation group consistently exhibited higher levels of cognitive function over the study period” says Dr. Junhyoung Paul Kim, lead author of the study.
In summary, older adults with mild cognitive impairment who play word games (such as crosswords) and have hobbies have better overall memory, working memory, attention, and information processing speed than those who do not.
Feeling good in your body, feeling good in your head!
Practice these games three to four times a week
In light of these results, scientists hope that “Health care providers (such as nursing homes) will recommend that older adults with mild cognitive impairment play games, read, or engage in similarly stimulating activities at least three to four times a week.”.
And if your grandparents live alone, instead of giving them flowers, buy them a puzzle!
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