Mental Activity Seems to Keep the Brain Vital
SUNDAY, Aug. 9 (HealthDay News) -- Older adults might want to remember to exercise their brains regularly.
Brain-stimulating activity, according to a new study, can delay the rapid loss of memory that precedes dementia.
For five years, researchers followed 488 adults, aged 75 to 85, who did not have dementia at the start of the study. They recorded the number of brain-stimulating activities that people participated in each week.
About a fifth of the participants had developed dementia by the end of the study, but the onset of memory decline appeared to vary based on the amount of mental exercise they had gotten.
Every time a senior took part in an activity such as reading, writing or playing games or music, the person appeared to delay rapid memory loss by about two to three months, the study found. A report on the study appears in the Aug. 4 issue of Neurology.
"The point of accelerated decline was delayed by 1.29 years for the person who participated in 11 activities per week compared to the person who participated in only four activities per week," study author Charles B. Hall, of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, said in a news release from the journal's publisher.
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Its amazing what a simple crossword or sudoku puzzle can do for the brain! its recommended that we partake in daily brain challenges to keep the brain stimulated and thus help prevent memory loss! It's something we can all handle!!