Can Exercising Your Brain Prevent Memory Loss?
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We all know by now that there are many benefits to exercising, but what about exercising your brain to rid memory loss? There are exercises for that too. These include participating in some mental activities like reading books, news or crafting in middle age according to the study released, which will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s annual meeting.
The study involved 197 people in the age group of 70 to 89. All of these people have already been affected with little cognitive impairment, or diagnosed memory loss, and another 1,124 people, who had no problems related to memory, were included in the study. Both these groups answered questions related to their activities when they were in their 50s and 60s.
The study revealed that there was a 30 to 50 percent decrease in the risk of memory loss in people who had participated in various activities like computer games, reading books, magazines, listening to music and indulging in poetic activities in later years. Also, people in their 50s who watched television for more than seven hours a day were more likely to have memory loss than those who watched television for less than seven hours a day in their 50s.
People who had not indulged in any activities were about 40 percent more likely to develop memory loss than those who had done all those activities in middle age.
“This study is exciting because it demonstrates that aging does not need to be a passive process. By simply engaging in cognitive exercise, you can protect against future memory loss,” said study author Yonas Geda, MD, MSc, a neuropsychiatrist at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, and a member of the American Academy of Neurology. “Of course, the challenge with this type of research is that we are relying on past memories of the participants, therefore, we need to confirm these findings with additional research.”
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