Leisure Activity May Prevent Alzheimer's

Oct. 2, 2003 -- Having an active social life as an adult may help prevent Alzheimer's disease and other types of dementia as you get older.

A new study shows people who engage in a greater number of leisure activities in early and middle adulthood have a lower risk of Alzheimer's disease than others.

"The idea that mental activity is good for the brain is not unlike the idea of 'use it or lose it' when it comes to keeping the body fit," says researcher Ross Andel of the University of South Florida School of Aging Studies. Adel conducted the study while at the University of Southern California.

But not all leisure activities may be equally protective. Researchers found Intellectual activities that engage the brain were the most protective, while domestic activities like housecleaning and gardening were the least protective.

More Active Now, Less Dementia Later

In the study, researchers analyzed data from the Swedish Twins Registry, which tracked same-sex twins who were born between 1886 and 1925 and followed them through the 1990s. Specifically, researchers compared 107 twin pairs in which one twin was diagnosed with some type of mental impairment, such as dementia or Alzheimer's disease, and the other was not.

The results appear in the September issue of The Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences.

The study showed that greater involvement in all types of leisure activities reduced the risk of dementia and Alzheimer's in general, even when factors such as education level were taken into account. Overall, the protective effect of leisure activities was greater among women than in men.

In addition, researchers found that intellectual-cultural activities, such as reading, radio or TV, social visits, and cultural activities had a bigger impact in reducing Alzheimer's risk among women.

The same effect was not found in men, but researchers say that men's professional activities may have provided this type of intellectual activity, while women had to rely on leisure activities for intellectual and cultural stimulation.

Although self-improvement activities, including clubs and organizations, studies, sports, and outdoor activities, may help protect against dementia, researchers say there wasn't enough information on these leisure activities to allow them to show a significant association in reducing Alzheimer's disease risk.