Mental Stimulation Postpones, Then Speeds Dementia

Here is a great dementia resource for caregivers and healthcare professinals,

Here is information on being the best caregiver you can be

Here is a way for nurses administrators, social workers and other health care professionals to get an easyceu or two

Here are more interesting dementia brain boosting activities





Get your subscription to Activity Director Today's e magazine" />

Allison Augbry

When it comes to staving off dementia, new evidence suggests that the "use it or lose it" dictum holds true — at least for a while. But it also appears that mentally stimulating lifestyles may speed up dementia once it hits in old age.

"We do think that a cognitively active lifestyle is protective up to some point," says Robert Wilson, a professor of neurological sciences at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.

But the protection doesn't hold up indefinitely.

New Evidence

Wilson and his colleagues recruited 1,157 people age 65 and older from the Chicago area. When the study began, none of the seniors had dementia. During face-to-face interviews, each was asked how often he or she participated in stimulating activities. "Things such as reading a newspaper, listening to the radio, going to a museum, or playing a board game such as chess or checkers," Wilson says. Then they gave each person a score on a cognitive activity scale. The more frequently people engaged in stimulating activities, the higher their score.

More than a decade later, researchers followed up with cognitive evaluations and diagnostics. They found that among the seniors who didn't have dementia, the rate of cognitive decline was reduced by 52 percent for each point on the cognitive activity scale. But the results were much different for those who developed Alzheimer's disease — their rate of decline increased. The average rate of decline per year increased by 42 percent for each point on the cognitive activity scale.

Findings Fit With Theory Of 'Cognitive Reserve'

"Someone who's brilliant and engages in a lot of activities might reduce their risk of Alzheimer's disease for a while," says Yaakov Stern, professor of clinical neuropsychology at Columbia University

His theory... come back to dementia views soon to see