(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Want to stay sharp as you age? Start making
friends, quit smoking and start working out.
Elderly people who exercise at least once a week, are not smokers, are more
socially active and have at least a high school education and a ninth grade
literacy level are more likely to maintain their cognitive skills through their
70s and 80s, a new study found.
Researchers followed 2,500 people between 70 and 79 for eight years and
occasionally tested their cognitive levels. Most of the participants showed
declines in cognitive functions, but 30 percent had no change or improved on the
tests over the years. The researchers wanted to know what those people were
doing right.
They discovered that non-smokers were nearly twice as likely to stay sharp than
smokers, those who exercised moderately to vigorously at least once a week were
30 percent more likely to maintain than cognitive functions than non-exercisers,
and people who worked, volunteered or reported living with someone were 24
percent more likely to maintain cognitive function late in life. Others who
stayed sharp were people who held at least a high school education (three times
as likely than less educated) and elderly with a ninth grade literacy level or
higher (five times as likely).
“Some of these factors such as exercise and smoking are behaviors that people
can change,” study author Alexandra Fiocco, Ph.D., of the University of
California, San Francisco, was quoted as saying. “Discovering factors associated
with cognitive maintenance may be very useful in prevention strategies that
guard against or slow the onset of dementia.”
SOURCE: Neurology, June 9, 2009
