Study from Mayo
Clinic shows doing more activities may offer greater cognitive protection
by Kimberly Goad, AARP,
September 10, 2019
En español | If your doctor wrote out a
prescription for your brain — one designed to guard against the kind of
cognitive decline that makes you forget your best friend's name — it could look
something like this: "Read books, play games, spend time on the computer,
engage in social activities, take on a crafts project. Do a mix of these activities
three to five days a week." Or so found a
new study published in Neurology.
Researchers at Mayo Clinic asked 2,000
cognitively unimpaired adults who were 70 and older to try one or more of the
activities above and keep a daily record. After five years, they discovered
that while the risk of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) was
reduced in those who took on a single activity, those who took on more than one
cut their risk at a significantly higher rate.
"It's not just about engaging in an
activity, it's about mixing it up with two or more,” says study co-author Yonas
Geda, M.D., a professor of psychiatry and neurology at Mayo Clinic. “Two
activities are better than one, three are better than two, and four are better
than three.”
While researchers say the message is that,
yes, more is more in this case, there were slight variations in results
according to the activities pursued. Using a computer, for instance, was
associated with a decreased risk of MCI regardless of when participants got in
the habit. As for crafts, those only seemed to reduce the risk of MCI when
carried out late in life. Overall, gains were the greatest after the first year
of taking on such new habits and practices.
As for why taking on a variety of such
activities rather than just one is especially beneficial? Experts say the
answer could lie in how such a combination requires you to tap multiple areas
of the brain, giving it what amounts to a more rigorous workout.
"In terms of higher function, we divide
the brain into five domains: language, attention, memory, sense of direction,
and emotional behavior regulation. The more domains you bring into the picture,
the better it is for the brain,” says Geda. “When you combine these activities,
you have a well-coordinated symphony.”
And a healthier one, at that. People with MCI
have a four-fold increased risk of developing dementia or Alzheimer's compared
to cognitively healthy adults. Unlike people who experience the kind of regular
cognitive decline that happens with normal aging, people with MCI show more
significant signs of forgetfulness and judgment.
"Take, for example, making a medical
decision,” says Namrata Das, M.D., a researcher at the University of Texas at
Dallas’ Center for BrainHealth. “Healthy agers might forget some details, but
they can still retain enough information to make an informed decision. Whereas
people with MCI are overwhelmed with the information provided and may ask the
doctor a lot of questions. And people with Alzheimer's can't follow any
instructions and the decision is left to the caregivers.”
To work more potentially brain-saving activities into your own day,
pencil them on your calendar to boost the likelihood you'll follow through.
Doubling up on healthy habits is OK, too. If you're looking for ways to spend
less time alone and make a dent in your reading list, join a book club at your
local library. If you need to walk for your overall health, enlist a friend and
count the hour as your “social” brain booster.
"Try to learn something interesting every
day,” suggests Das, who notes that along with challenging your brain, “nutrition, physical exercise and sleep also promote brain health.”
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on Brain Health
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