Repeated brain stimulation in old age can keep Alzheimer’s at bay
From our ANI Correspondent
Washington, June 28: Activities that stimulate the brain, such as reading the newspaper or playing chess, reduces the risk of the elderly developing Alzheimer’s, a new study shows.
As a part of the study researchers Rush University Medical Center followed more that 700 people in Chicago, with an average age of 80, for up to five years. These participants formed part of the Rush Memory and Aging Project, a longitudinal study of more than 1,200 older people, and underwent yearly cognitive testing.
Of the participants, 90 developed Alzheimer’s disease.
Researchers also performed a brain autopsy on the 102 participants who died. They found that 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.
Here is the full story.
Very interesting.
Thanks for posting
As always
appreciative
Abie
It certainly works for Viktor Korchnoi! Cool study.
Maybe because they are mentally active they play chess. It does not prove that chess helps old people.
It’s interesting to note that stress has been found to increase the risk for Alzheimer’s disease. Such mental activity may help to reduce stress by promoting relaxation and distraction from the worries of life. More about stress and Alzheimer’s here: http://www.thenewsroom.com/details/418326/Health?c_id=wom-bc-ar
– Alvin from The Health Desk at TheNewsRoom.com
Just suppose…..
If person is well / mentally active, he/she can read / play chess.
If the person has Alzheimer’s, he/she can’t read / play chess.
Perhaps it’s using statistical sampling(?) the wrong way round? Or, reverse logic? Self-fulfilling stats?
🙂
Anyway, interesting article.