Study Finds Lifelong Learning May Cut Dementia Risk By %40

A major new study published in the journal Neurology has found that engaging in intellectually stimulating activities throughout life—from childhood reading to adult museum visits and late-life games—is associated with a 38% lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease and a 36% lower risk of mild cognitive impairment.
Researchers at Rush University Medical Center tracked nearly 2,000 older adults for an average of eight years and discovered that those with the highest lifetime cognitive enrichment developed Alzheimer’s at an average age of 94 compared to 88 for those with the lowest enrichment, a delay of more than five years.
The protective effect was even stronger for mild cognitive impairment, delayed by seven years. Early-life factors included being read to, access to books and atlases, and learning a foreign language for over five years.
Midlife enrichment included library cards and museum visits, while later-life cognitive activity involved reading, writing, and games.
Researchers emphasize that dementia is not an inevitable part of aging and that public investment in libraries and early education could have a profound impact on reducing the global dementia crisis.