Using your brain keeps it healthy longer

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-06/tjnj-eli061914.php

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 23-Jun-2014
Contact: Duska Anastasijevic
The JAMA Network Journals
Examining lifetime intellectual enrichment and cognitive decline in older patients

Bottom Line: Higher scores that gauged education (years of school completed) and occupation (based on attributes, complexities of a job), as well as higher levels of mid/late-life cognitive activity (e.g., reading books, participating in social activities and doing computer activities at least three times per week) were linked to better cognition in older patients.

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Better education/occupation scores and mid/late-life cognitive activity were associated with better cognitive performance. The authors suggest high lifetime intellectual enrichment may delay the onset of cognitive impairment by almost nine years in carriers of the APOE4 genotype, a risk factor for Alzheimer disease, compared with low lifetime intellectual enrichment.

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