Lifelong Learning Leads to Longer Cognitive Acuity

Intellectual enrichment, starting early with education, in midlife with a stimulating career, and later in life with volunteerism and socializing, may help older men and women to preserve cognitive skills.  Prashanthi Vemuri, from The Mayo Clinic (Minnesota, USA), and colleagues studied 1,995 men and women in their 70s and 80s, enrolled in The Mayo Clinic Study of Aging, who did not have dementia at the study’s start.  Although education and employment seemed to be more important overall, mid- and later-life cognitive activity contributed to retention of cognitive skills with aging. .Those with less education early in life saw the largest benefit from mental stimulation in later life.  As well, the team found that regardless of education and work history, people who engaged in challenging mental activities at least three times per week delayed the onset of cognitive decline by more than three years compared to those who did less.  Reporting that: “Higher education/occupation scores were associated with higher levels of cognition … Higher levels of mid/late-life cognitive activity were also associated with higher levels of cognition, but the slope of this association slightly increased over time,” the study authors submit that: “Lifetime intellectual enrichment might delay the onset of cognitive impairment and be used as a successful preventive intervention to reduce the impending dementia epidemic.”