Can your competent? doctor get you recovered enough to do these? Oh NO, you DON'T have a functioning stroke doctor, do you?
These Simple Tasks Can Cut Your Risk Of Dementia, Study Finds
Research is offering some actionable steps we can take to protect our minds from memory loss.
A large UK-based study published in the American Academy of Neurology’s medical journal found that physical and mental activities ― such as doing household chores, exercising or visiting loved ones may help lower the risk of dementia.
The roughly 11-year study followed 501,376 people in the UK who self-reported their physical and mental activities at the beginning of the experiment: how often they visit with friends, their education level, how often they climb stairs, how they commute to work, and more.The study found certain activities were associated with a lower risk of dementia. People who frequently exercised had a 35% lower risk, people who frequently did household chores had a 21% lower risk and people who visited daily with family and friends had a 15% lower risk.
And while dementia risk factors also include things that are out of our control ― like aging and genetics ― the research underscores that there are behaviors within your power to either reduce your risk of dementia or delay the condition, Dr. Scott Turner, director of the memory disorders program at Georgetown University Medical Center, told HuffPost.
The study does come with a few caveats: The findings are a correlation, not necessarily a direct link. Another limitation is that because people reported their own physical and mental activities, there’s always a chance that some people forgot about activities they engaged in or reported them incorrectly.
“More research is needed to confirm our findings. However, our results are encouraging that making these simple lifestyle changes may be beneficial,” study author Dr. Huan Song of Sichuan University in China, said in a statement.
Overall, the results are good news, considering more than 5 million people in the United States live with dementia — and that number is only expected to grow.
Keeping your brain stimulated is key.
Whether through physical activity, social activity or mental activity, putting your brain to work can help delay dementia onset or reduce the risk altogether.Chores double as both a physical and mental activity (and can even sometimes be considered exercise, Turner noted). Visits with loved ones are a social activity that also requires mental stimulation, and physical activity requires mental dedication, too.
Turner said that people who develop visual or hearing problems could be at a higher risk of dementia if they don’t address the problem by getting glasses or hearing aids. When you can’t hear or see, he explained, “you’re depriving your brain of sensory input, and you need to keep your brain stimulated” to help reduce your risk of dementia.
No comments:
Post a Comment