Reading can slow cognitive decline
As we age, our brain slows down, and cognitive tasks that we may have once found easy, such as remembering a name or a house number, may become more challenging.
But according to a number of studies, reading could help slow down or even prevent cognitive decline, and it may even help stave off more severe forms of cognitive impairment, such as Alzheimer’s disease.
In 2013, a study by researchers from Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, IL – published in the journal Neurology – found that reading and other mentally stimulating activities may slow dementia.
For their research, lead author Robert S. Wilson, of the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center, and team enrolled 294 adults of an average age of 89.
Every year for an average of 6 years before their death, the participants completed a number of memory and thinking tests. They also completed a questionnaire detailing any mentally stimulating activities they engaged in during childhood, adolescence, middle age, and in later life.
From analyzing the brains of participants after their death, the researchers found that those who engaged in reading, writing, and other mentally stimulating activities in early and late life were less likely to show physical evidence of dementia, such as brain lesions, plaques, and tangles.
“Based on this, we shouldn’t underestimate the effects of everyday activities, such as reading and writing, on our children, ourselves and our parents or grandparents,” Wilson comments.
The results support those of an earlier study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, which found older adults who read, play chess, and participate in other mentally challenging activities were 2 ½ times less likely to develop Alzheimer’s.
Source: https://www.neurology.org/doi/10.1212/WNL.0000000000001704
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