Hobbies after retiring have dementia link, study suggests

RETIRED people who take up hobbies after finishing work are less likely to be diagnosed with dementia, a study has suggested.

For those doing three new leisure activities monthly or two weekly after the age of 66, the risk was reduced by 18 per cent over eight years.

However, the researchers suggested this might be because changes in the amount of leisure activity may be an early sign of dementia.

Previous research has suggested keeping the mind active helped to preserve the grey matter, but the new study, which followed 8,280 British people with an average age of 56 over the course of 18 years, found this only applied for people taking up new activities in later life.

Researchers found no relationship between taking part in more leisure

activities at the beginning of the study and having a lower dementia risk nearly 20 years later.

Dr Andrew Sommerlad, the lead author at University College London, said there were many reasons to continue to participate in leisure activities.

“This finding does not question the importance of keeping active for general health and wellbeing,” he added.

“But it does suggest simply increasing leisure activity may not be a strategy for preventing dementia.”

The study, published in the Neurol

ogy journal, assessed leisure activities at five- year i ntervals. The activities included reading, listening to music, taking classes, participating in clubs, visiting friends and relatives, playing cards or games, religious activities and gardening. Participants whose level of activities dropped were two-and-a-half times more prone to dementia than those whose level stayed the same.

More than 850,000 people in the UK are living with dementia, a figure predicted to rise to two million by 2050.

Dr Sommerlad said: “Our study suggests changes in the amount of leisure activity may be an early sign of dementia – possibly due to symptoms such as apathy or other social changes or early cognitive difficulties. It’s plausible people may slow down their activity level up to 10 years before dementia is actually diagnosed, due to subtle changes and symptoms that are not yet recognised.”