Can you protect your aging brain by enriching your mind late in life? A new study in JAMA Neurology suggests that you can.
For years, researchers have noticed that people with more education and intellectually demanding careers have a lower risk of dementia. But the evidence has been less clear on whether intellectually engaging activities may be protective when started later in life.
In the new study, researchers separated lifetime intellectual enrichment into two categories: (1) early/mid-life (gauged by education and occupation) and (2) mid/late-life (gauged by a questionnaire). Not surprisingly, high lifetime intellectual enrichment was associated with higher cognitive function. However, people who engaged in mid/late-life cognitive activity had less cognitive decline over time. The effect of mid/late-life cognitive activity was particularly strong in people who did not have a high score of cognitive enrichment in early/mid-life. In other words, it’s not too late to start training your brain!
The study specifically looked at people who carry the APOE4 genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease. As expected, older people with the APOE4 genotype had lower cognitive function overall, but APOE4 carriers with a high level of lifetime intellectual enrichment were shown to have their cognitive impairment delayed by almost nine years on average.
So what kind of intellectual enrichment can be effective? A randomized trial found that elderly people at risk of cognitive impairment who volunteered in elementary schools through the Experience Corps program experienced gains in cognitive function and improved executive function. While brain training games and crosswords are popular, consider other types of intellectually challenging activities, such as learning a new skill or activity, particularly in a social environment.
Dr. Penny Dacks was previously the Director of Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease Prevention at the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation. She was trained in neuroscience at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, the University of Arizona, and Queen's University (Canada) with individual fellowships from the National Institute of Health, the Evelyn F. McKnight Brain Research Foundation, the ARCS Foundation and the Hilda and Preston Davis Foundation. She has authored over 18 peer-reviewed scientific articles and is a member of the Society for Neuroscience, the Gerontological Society of America, the Endocrine Society and the Association for Women in Science.
Get the latest brain health news:
Seven Steps to Brain Health Intellectual Stimulation Improves Cognition Building Cognitive Reserve: Do Computer Games Really Work?