Puzzles and card games can help delay dementia
READING, writing letters and playing card games or puzzles in later life may delay the onset of Alzheimer’s dementia by up to five years, new research suggests.
The study indicates that it may be beneficial for people to start doing these activities even in their 80s.
It found that people who engaged in more cognitively stimulating activities were potentially delaying the age at which they develop dementia.
Robert Wilson, of Rush University Medical Centre in Chicago, said: “The good news is that it’s never too late to start doing the kinds of inexpensive, accessible activities we looked at in our study.
“Our findings suggest it may be beneficial to start doing these things, even in your 80s, to delay the onset of Alzheimer’s dementia.”
The study looked at 1,978 people with an average age of 80 who did not have dementia at the start of the study, and followed them up for an average of seven years.
Prof Wilson said: “Our study shows that people who engage in more cognitively stimulating activities may be delaying the age at which they develop dementia.
“It is important to note, after we accounted for late life level of cognitive activity, neither education nor early life cognitive activity were associated with the age at which a person developed Alzheimer’s dementia.
“Our research suggests that the link between cognitive activity and the age at which a person developed dementia is mainly driven by the activities you do later in life.”
One limitation of the study, published in the Neurology journal, is that it was based on a group of mainly white people who had high levels of education.
Further research is needed to determine if the findings apply to the general population.