Play your cards right – study shows that keeping your brain active in later life may help to delay dementia by five years
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.
Participants were given annual examinations, which
included a number of cognitive tests, to determine if they had developed dementia.
At the start of the study people rated their participation in seven activities on a five-point scale.
The questions included: "During the past year, how often did you read books?" and "During the past year, how often did you play games like checkers, board games, cards or puzzles?"
Questions about cognitive activity in childhood, adulthood and middle age were also answered by the participants.
The researchers then averaged each person's responses, with a score of one meaning once a year or less and a score of five meaning every day or almost every day. Those in the group with high cognitive activity scored an average of 4.0 which meant activities several times per week, compared to an average score of 2.1 for those with low cognitive activity, which meant activities several times per year.
During the study followup period, 457 people with an average age of 89 were diagnosed with Alzheimer's dementia.
People with the highest levels of activity, on average, developed dementia at age 94. Those with the lowest cognitive activity, on average, developed dementia at age 89.