How Do You Keep From Developing Dementia? Never Retire
The good news is, you can fight to prevent dementia in your later years. The bad news? You’ll have to slave away, working, instead of enjoying an early retirement to do so.
A study by the French government’s health research agency, INSERM, performed one of the largest studies on the subject, and found that working keeps people physically and mentally active, which in turn helps to keep dementia at bay.
“For each additional year of work, the risk of getting dementia is reduced by 3.2 percent,” Carole Dufouil, an INSERM scientist who led the study, told the Associated Press.
About 35 million people worldwide suffer from dementia, Alzheimer’s being the most common form of the disease. As of yet, there is no cure or treatment that can slow down the progression of dementia.
The French study looked at more than 429,000 workers who were 74 on average and had been retired for an average of 12 years. Nearly 3% had developed dementia, but the chance for dementia lowered with each additional year the person had worked.
To be fair, working isn’t the only way to keep yourself busy to fight off mental decline.
"It's more staying cognitively active, staying socially active, continue to be engaged in whatever it is that's enjoyable to you,” explained Heather Snyder, director of medical and scientific operations for the Alzheimer’s Association. "My parents are retired but they're busier than ever. They're taking classes at their local university, they're continuing to attend lectures and they're continuing to stay cognitively engaged and socially engaged in their lives."
Past studies have suggested that playing challenging puzzles and doing any sort of rigorous mental activity on a daily basis can help combat dementia as well. And no, that does not include spending five hours a day on Buzzfeed, Reddit, or Facebook.
...Although, now that we think about it, continually updating ourselves on our friends’ newsfeeds totally counts as “staying socially active,” right?
[Pic via Flickr -- Vince Alongi]
