Be Friendly And Avoid Alzheimer's

The title exaggerates a little, but not much. One research project after another reports that, if we want to stay sharp all our lives, relationships matter. One of the most recent is the 2008 report of a Harvard School Of Public Health Study showing that elderly people in the U.S. with an active social life have a slower rate of memory decline. In fact, memory decline among the most integrated was less than half the rate of that among the least integrated. (Social integration was indicated by marital status, volunteer activities, and contact with parents, children and neighbors.)

Just 10 Minutes’ Conversation Helps

Many seniors, especially “senior seniors,” find computer brain games daunting. But there are simpler – and age-old – ways to keep an older brain alert. The University of Michigan Institute for Social Research reported in 2008 on a study that tested people as old as 96. Lead author Oscar Ybarra said, "We found that short-term social interaction lasting for just 10 minutes boosted participants' intellectual performance as much as engaging in so-called 'intellectual' activities for the same amount of time."

Sociability Even Protects Those With Alzheimer’s!

A surprising 2006 study from Rush University Medical Center in Chicago found that some people with many social contacts with family or friends were protected from the effects of Alzheimer’s, even though they had Alzheimer’s tangles and plaques in their brains!

Down Side For the Non-Social

According to a study by the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, “Those who were married or living with a partner in midlife had a 50 percent lower risk of having dementia later in life, compared to those who lived alone—even after adjusting for education, occupation, exercise, general health and other variables.

“People who were single throughout their lives had double the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, compared to the married, while those who were divorced and stayed divorced from midlife on had triple the risk.”

And the most dramatic risk increase was found among those who lost a spouse in midlife and stayed single. They had more than a sixfold risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease compared with their married peers.

It is often difficult for those divorced or widowed to build a new social life, but clearly such a social life will help protect them from Alzheimer’s.