Researchers at Mayo Clinic have found that mental activities may protect against mild cognitive impairment. In their latest study,
Mayo Clinic researchers have found that engaging in mentally stimulating activities, even late in life, may protect against new-onset mild cognitive impairment, which is the intermediate stage between normal cognitive aging and dementia. The study found that cognitively normal people 70 or older who engaged in computer use, craft activities, social activities and playing games had a decreased risk of developing mild cognitive impairment. The results are published in the Jan. 30 edition of JAMA Neurology.
Activities such as playing games, crafting and participating in social activities are being found to make an overall difference in the brain over time. In fact, CBS News reports,
The researchers found that people who performed these activities at least one to two times per week had less decline in memory and thinking skills than people who did these activities only two to three times per month or less, noted senior author Dr. Yonas Geda, in a Mayo news release. Geda is a psychiatrist and behavioral neurologist at Mayo Clinic’s Arizona campus.
So, keep those brains thriving by keeping them active by engaging in memory building activities.