Chicago: Regularly engaging in intellectually stimulating activities such as reading, writing and learning foreign languages could lower the risk of dementia by nearly 40 percent, according to new research that suggests millions of cases may be preventable or delayed.
Dementia is considered one of the most serious global health threats. The number of people living with the condition is expected to triple to more than 150 million worldwide by 2050. Experts warn that this rapid rise presents a significant and growing challenge to health and social care systems across communities, countries and continents.
Researchers in the United States found that lifelong participation in mentally stimulating activities was associated with a reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease, the most common type of dementia, and a slower rate of cognitive decline.
The study’s lead author, Andrea Zammit of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, noted that the findings indicate that cognitive health in later life is ‘strongly influenced’ by lifelong exposure to intellectually stimulating environments.
The lead author described the results as encouraging, suggesting that consistently taking part in a range of mentally engaging activities across the lifespan can positively affect cognition. Zammit added that public investment in enriching environments, such as libraries and early education programmes designed to foster a lifelong love of learning, may help reduce dementia rates.
The study tracked 1,939 individuals with an average age of 80 who did not have dementia at the outset. Participants were followed for approximately eight years. During this time, they completed surveys assessing cognitive activities and access to learning resources at three different life stages: early life, midlife and later life.
Early-life enrichment, defined as before the age of 18, included how frequently participants were read to or read books, whether they had access to newspapers and atlases at home, and whether they studied a foreign language for more than five years.
Midlife enrichment was measured using indicators such as income at age 40, access to household resources including magazine subscriptions, dictionaries and library cards, and how often participants visited cultural or educational venues such as museums and libraries.
Later-life enrichment, beginning at an average age of 80, assessed how frequently participants read, wrote and played games, as well as their total income from social security, retirement funds and other sources.
Over the course of the study, 551 participants developed Alzheimer’s disease and 719 developed mild cognitive impairment (MCI). The findings were published in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
Researchers compared individuals in the highest 10 percent of lifetime cognitive enrichment with those in the lowest 10 percent. Among participants with the highest enrichment levels, 21 percent developed Alzheimer’s disease. In contrast, 34 percent of those in the lowest enrichment group were diagnosed with the condition.
After adjusting for factors such as age, sex and education, higher lifetime cognitive enrichment scores were linked to a 38 percent lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease and a 36 percent lower risk of mild cognitive impairment.
The data also revealed significant differences in the age of onset. Participants with the highest levels of lifetime enrichment developed Alzheimer’s at an average age of 94, compared with 88 among those with the lowest levels, representing a delay of more than five years.
Similarly, mild cognitive impairment developed at an average age of 85 in the highest enrichment group, compared with 78 in the lowest group, indicating a seven-year delay.
Researchers further examined participants who died during the study and underwent autopsies. Those with higher lifetime cognitive enrichment demonstrated stronger memory and thinking abilities prior to death and experienced a slower rate of cognitive decline.
However, the study had limitations. Participants reported details of their early and midlife experiences later in life, which may have led to inaccuracies in recollection. Additionally, the research identified an association rather than establishing a direct cause-and-effect relationship, meaning it does not prove that lifelong learning directly reduces the risk of dementia.
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