If You’re Reading This . . .

. . . you’re halfway to protecting yourself against mild cognitive impairment (MCI, which is the first step on the road to Alzheimer’s).  This is according to a new study, which says that combining computer use with physical exercise is beneficial in reducing the risk of MCI in seniors.  A report of the study was presented at the American Academy of Neurology meeting.

It’s previously been shown that physical exercise, cognitive activity, and calorie intake control each have an independent beneficial effect on the risk of MCI.  The purpose of this study, which employed data from the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging, was to determine the joint effect of these interventions.  The study population was 926 seniors aged 70 to90.  Of these, 109 had MCI – the others were cognitively normal.  Surveys were used to get information on physical exercise, cognitive activities, and caloric intake for the previous year. 

It was found that any degree of moderate physical activity in late life (vs. none) and any computer use in late life (vs. none) reduced the risk of developing MCI by 36% and 44%, respectively.  Each increase of 100 calories a day was responsible for a 4% increase in the risk of MCI.

Further analyses showed that physical exercise and computer use by the same individual had a beneficial effect that exceeded those of the two interventions added together, i.e. there was an apparent synergistic effect.  What’s interesting to me was the fact that only computer use –as opposed to other cognitive activities, such as reading – had a statistically significant effect in this study.