Avoiding dementia
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Here’s an easy daily habit that may help to keep the brain sharp in old age: Listen to music. A new study found that older adults who consistently listened to music reduced their risk of developing dementia by nearly 40 percent.
The study, from researchers at Monash University in Australia, used data from more than 10,800 relatively healthy men and women aged 70 and older who were enrolled in a long-running study of aging and health. None had Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia at the start of the study period. Participants underwent annual medical exams and regular tests of thinking and memory skills. They were followed for about a decade.
The researchers found that study participants who said they listened to music on most days had a 39 percent lower risk of developing dementia than their peers who “never,” “rarely” or only “sometimes” listened to music. They also had a 17 percent lower incidence of general cognitive decline, as well as higher scores on tests of thinking and memory skills, including episodic memory, or the ability to recall everyday events.
Regularly playing a musical instrument, such as a piano or guitar, also appeared to have benefits for the brain. Those who played a musical instrument had a 33 percent reduced risk of dementia and a 22 percent reduced risk of cognitive impairment.
https://www.alzinfo.org/articles/research/listening-to-music-may-cut-dementia-risk/
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Music is healing. And I become more and more aware of all the cognitive tasks involved in intensive practicing.
No guarantees though. Musicians do still experience dementia.
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Taxi drivers rarely die of Alzheimer’s – how complex mental maps and spatial reasoning protect your brain
@wtg thanks for posting that article. I had actually heard about the “London cabbies have bigger hippocampi” finding (that research study is apparently from 2000), but it’s interesting to read about it now, when practically everyone relies on GPS to get around and esp. to go new places.
I’m surprised the author didn’t mention that, but I have read people talking about the skills we lose when we don’t learn the lay of the land, so to speak…
(ETA I had to look up the plural of hippocampus, I wanted it to be hippocampuses…
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I want someone to do a study of folks who play board games as a serious hobby and see if that has impact. I spend so much time learning new rules, mechanics, symbology, and strategies for various games I have to think it counts for something!
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I want someone to do a study of folks who play board games as a serious hobby and see if that has impact. I spend so much time learning new rules, mechanics, symbology, and strategies for various games I have to think it counts for something!
a study of folks who play board games as a serious hobby and see if that has impact.
Oh, I bet it does! Strategy games, having the think ahead, consider various possible outcomes several steps/turns out.... Also, depending on the games, like D&D etc. where there's kind of world-making in addition to strategy...
I'm sure the complexity of individual games and the diversity of playing different games result in all kinds of benefits.
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Taxi drivers rarely die of Alzheimer’s – how complex mental maps and spatial reasoning protect your brain
I don’t know about the cause versus affect, but I have seen the loss of this ability as the first sign of dementia in the three people closest to me that I’ve watched go through it.
in each case, the first troubling sign we saw was the person getting lost easily while driving.
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Your brain is very much like a muscle in that you have to exercise it, and in different ways. When I started out doing the daily Jumble I would sometimes have a hard time identifying the words. Now its zip zap done. New neural pathways. That applies to music, games, reading, anything you have to focus on and learn. I'm completely convinced that continuoous learning is key to mental health, as well as happiness.
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I do only one puzzle…the one in the NYT print edition (might be Spelling Bee?) where you get 7 letters and make as many 5-or-more letter words as you can. (It may be different in the online game.). I can sometimes get to “Excellent” but rarely “Genius.”
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For those who enjoy puzzles, I have recently become obsessed with Murdoku. They are kind of a cross between sudoku and a logic puzzle. I have two of the books (a third is in preorder). You can also try them online. I did online first and then ordered the books (trying to stay off devices). I find them easier to do on paper. I highly recommend them! https://murdoku.com/?lang=en
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