Jul 14, 2023/ 01:43pm EDT / Forbes
TOPLINE
Puzzles, card games, chess and adult education classes can reduce the risk of developing dementia over the age of 70 by as much as 11%, a new study found, but participating in group activities and maintaining active social circles have little impact on late-in-life memory loss.
KEY FACTS
Adult literacy activities, learning new skills, taking classes and, to a lesser extent, crafting or artistry all contributed to a lower dementia risk in people over 70, a study published Friday by the American Medical Association journal JAMANetwork Open found.
Active mental activities—crosswords, puzzles, games, cards or chess—and adult literacy, defined in the study as attending a class, writing or using a computer, provided the greatest benefits because they either are competitive in nature and require problem solving or require participants to process and store new information.
The benefits of challenging cognitive activities stayed the same even as other factors in participants’ lives were different—like level of earlier education and socioeconomic status—according to the study by researchers at Australia’s Monash University.
The study analyzed more than 10,000 people over the age of 70, 98% of who were white. Researchers found that frequency of social activities and the number of close friends and family were not associated with dementia risk.
The study’s results are in line with some existing literature that mentally stimulating activities may help delay the onset of symptoms of Alzheimer’s and other former of dementia, but findings on the issue differ—the Bronx 20-year longitudinal Aging Study found that doing regular crossword puzzles can slow memory decline by 2.5 years but a team of Scottish researchers in 2018 said they found such mental stimulation may help the brain cope with disease but does not prevent its actual onset.
KEY BACKGROUND
There are more than 10 million new cases of dementia each year worldwide, according to Alzheimer’s Disease International, and as many as 78 million people are expected to be living with dementia by 2030 as the number of cases almost doubles every 20 years. The majority of the increase is expected to be seen in developing countries, ADI says. The global cost of dementia is above $1.3 trillion and is expected to rise to $2.8 trillion by 2030, including the cost of informal care provided by friends and family, social care and medical care. Population growth and population aging are the main reasons behind a large rise in global dementia cases, according to a study published in Lancet Public Health.
TANGENT
The Food and Drug Administration approved a first-of-its-kind drug last week to slow Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia. Lecanemab, which is made by Biogen and Japanese drugmaker Eisai, clears plaques in the brain that contributes to cognitive decline. Experts have expressed concern over severe and potentially fatal side effects of the drug.
About Mary Whitfill Roeloffs
Mary Roeloffs is a Forbes reporter who covers breaking news with a frequent focus on the entertainment industry, streaming, sports news, publishing, pop culture and climate change. She joined Forbes in 2023 and lives in Nashville. She’s covered Netflix’s hottest documentaries, a surge of assaults reported on social media, the most popular books of the year and how climate change stands to impact the way we eat. Roeloffs was included on Editor & Publisher Magazine’s “25 Under 30” list in 2023 and worked covering local news in the greater Boston area from 2017 to 2023. She graduated with a double major in political science and journalism from Northeastern University. Follow Roeloffs for continued coverage of streaming wars, pop culture news and trending topics.