Intellectual Activity Seems to Cut Alzheimer's Risk
Exercising brain keeps it
healthy
Discoveryhealth.com
http://health.discovery.com/news/afp/20030616/alzheimer.html
June 19, 2003
Regular intellectual activity appears to reduce an elderly person's risk
of Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia, according to a 21-year
study led by Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City and published
Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Reading, dancing and playing musical instruments and
board games were associated with a reduced risk of dementia among the 469
elderly people tracked (older than 75 years of age for more than five years)
during the study, according to the authors. Participating in these activities
once a week cut the risk of dementia by seven percent in the study group,
and the reduction swelled to 63 percent among those who engaged in intellectually
stimulating activities on at least 11 days out of the month, according to
the study.
The study participants were interviewed often as to their participation
in six cognitive activities (including reading, doing crossword puzzles and
playing cards) and 11 physical activities (from tennis to golf to dancing).
Dancing was the only physical activity associated with a lower
risk of dementia. This is perhaps because dance music engages the dancer's
mind, suggested lead researcher Joe Verghese, a neurologist at Einstein
College.
The study's authors stressed, however, that the findings "do not imply
that subjects who were less active cognitively increased their risk of
dementia." The authors also cautioned that the study's subjects were not
fully representative of the general population, since most of the 469 people
participating in the study were white and older than 75, while dementia
generally strikes people over the age of 65. About 10 per cent of people
develop dementia between ages 60 and 70. The researchers concluded
that "If there is a causal role, participation in leisure activities may
increase cognitive reserve, delaying the clinical or pathological onset
of dementia. "Alternatively," they said, "participation in cognitive activities
might slow the pathological processes of disease during the preclinical
phase of dementia."
Commenting on
the findings in an editorial, Dr Joseph Coyle, a psychiatrist from Harvard
Medical School in Boston, said determining the relative contributions of
genes and environmental factors that confer risk to the pathogenesis of
dementia remains an “important but unrealised goal” in research.
“If confirmed, our results may support recommendations for participation
in cognitive activities to lower the risk of dementia that parallel current
recommendations for participation in physical activities to reduce the
risk of cardiovascular disease.”
“In the meantime, seniors should be encouraged to read, play board games
and go ballroom dancing, because these activities, at the very
least, enhance their quality of life, and they just
might do more than that,” he said
Mayo Clinic Health Letter
Jazz up your fitness
rountine with a regular dose of dance. Dancing pairs you up with more
than a partner:
. Burn
Calories
. Cardiovascular
conditionoing strong bones
. Rehabilitation
. Sociability
http://www.mayoclinic.com
Another Reason to
Square Dance
In the Jan/Feb,
2002 issue of Today's Health and Wellness magazine is an article written
by Lynn Madsen, a Medical writer.
The topic is 10 Easy Ways To Improve Your Life. The #7 Tip is: Go
Square Dancing (to sharpen your geometric and spacing skills) and the
note at the
end of the article says that the authors of this article is working hard
to master tip #7.
By: Enid Campbell from the Square News, Hub City S&RD Assoc, SK
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