You May Slow the Onset of Dementia with Mental Exercises

Albert Einstein College of Medicine scientists have reported the results of a study published in Neurology that indicates that playing games, reading, and writing may help people postpone the risk of dementia.

The researchers enrolled 488 people aged 75 to 85 who were free of dementia, and followed them for 5 years; by that time, 101 of them had developed the condition. At enrollment the participants had indicated how often they had leisure activities that utilized brain power – reading, writing, crossword puzzles, board or card games or playing music. The frequency of each activity was recorded, and the time point when memory decline started accelerating.

For the 101 participants who developed dementia, the daily average was one listed activity a day (e.g. doing the crossword every day), which scored a total of 7 points. Of the 101, ten reported no activities, and 11 reported one activity a week, i.e. scoring 1. Analysis of the scores versus the time point at which decline started showed that, for every additional activity a person undertook, the time point was delayed by 0.18 years. Someone with a score of 11 (i.e. 11 activities per week) compared with someone with a score of 4 was linked with a delay of sudden worsening of 1.3 years.

There’s a possible downside, maybe, to these findings. If a high score – i.e. lots of mental activities – correlates with a higher level of education, the subject may experience a delay in onset of decline, but an acceleration of the decline once it starts, compared with lesser educated people. That will be a further avenue for the researchers to explore. But I’m quite sure it won’t lead to a suggestion that one should reduce mental activities in old age . . .