Mental stimulation reduces risk of Alzheimer’s
disease
2 July 2007 A five-year study of older people has found that the amount
of mental stimulation affects the incidence of Alzheimer’s disease. How
often old people read a newspaper, play chess, or engage in other mentally
stimulating activities is related to risk of developing the disease. The
study, which was part of the Rush Memory and Aging Project, a longitudinal
study of more than 1,200 older people, was published in the online edition
of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology on 27
June, 2007. In the study, more than 700 people in Chicago,
USA, with an average age of 80 underwent yearly cognitive testing for up to
five years. Participants were. 90 of the participants developed Alzheimer’s
disease. Researchers also performed a brain autopsy on the 102 participants
who died. A cognitively active person in old age was 2.6 times less likely
to develop dementia and Alzheimer’s disease than a cognitively inactive
person in old age. This association remained after controlling for past
cognitive activity, lifetime socioeconomic status, and current social and
physical activity. “Alzheimer’s disease is among the most feared
consequences of old age,” said study author Robert S. Wilson, PhD, with the
Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center at Rush University Medical Center in
Chicago. “The enormous public health problems posed by the disease are
expected to increase during the coming decades as the proportion of old
people in the United States increases. This underscores the urgent need for
strategies to prevent the disease or delay its onset.” Wilson says the
study also found frequent cognitive activity during old age, such as
visiting a library or attending a play, was associated with reduced risk of
mild cognitive impairment, a transitional stage between normal aging and
dementia, and less rapid decline in cognitive function. So Nintendo may be
on the right track with its mental agility video games aimed at at older
people.
Each year that dementia is delayed will lead to significant savings for
national healthcare budgets — see
Growing Alzheimer’s epidemic could
cripple healthcare.
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Information wantedd
MTB Europe would like to hear from anyone involved
in developing electronic games/applications/devices for,
or studying their use by, the elderly (ie for their pleasure
or to aid social interaction).
Please contact the Editor! |
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