Chicago researchers studied the cognitive abilities of a group of 294 adults in their late 70s and 80s by surveying them on the amount of information-seeking activities they engaged in during their early childhood, adult, and late-life years. They checked in with them regularly for about six years prior to their deaths, after which they examined their brains at autopsy for common brain lesions and signs of dementia. Those who participated in creative or intellectual pastimes more frequently over the course of their lifetime had about a 32% slower late-life cognitive decline rate than those who partook in these brainy enterprises less often, according to the study published in the journal Neurology. Mental activeness in youth years was particularly linked with late-life memory preservation. Pastimes like reading, writing, and many others make the brain more efficient by changing its structure to continue functioning properly in spite of age-related neuropathologies, explains Robert S. Wilson, PhD, professor of neuropsychology at Rush University Medical Center. “It’s healthy to take a look at your lifestyle and decide whether it’s as cognitively active as you can make it,” Dr. Wilson says. “The metaphor we use is a hobby. In order to change brain structure and function, it needs to be sustained, and for it to be sustained, it’s probably got to be enjoyable.” Reading and writing are the prototype activities that were studied and found to have significant brain benefits over the years, but any hobby—photography, quilting, acting, or anything creative—that keeps your mind churning achieves similar positive effects. More from Prevention: Will You Read This Summer?
