Reading is an excellent method to exercise your brain, unwind, and participate in activities that are beneficial for stress levels and brain health, putting you in a better position to decrease cognitive aging even while it would not stop dementia from advancing or completely reduce your chance of getting it.
After the death of each adult in the study, at the average age of 89, autopsies showed that those who were avid readers experienced 30% less memory loss and had the least physical signs of dementia. Reading essentially lowered the risk and onset of dementia in those who participated in the study.
Living with dementia does not mean your senior loved one's reading ability is lost forever. He or she can still enjoy reading books independently during the early stages of the disease. Even when cognitive decline worsens, your loved one may want you to read to him or her.
Reading helps in improving memory by increasing mental stimulation and allowing new neurons to be produced in the brain. The more one reads, the easier it becomes to recall certain things. This is because reading exercises the brain. Reading is also essential in decreasing stress and improving concentration levels.
Research shows that the cognitive stimulation of processing written material can slow down the progression of dementia and the decline of language skills. Reading connects older adults with their memories, their sense of self, their loved ones and the world at large.
Receiving a life-changing dementia diagnosis doesn't strip a person of their humanity or personhood. People with dementia think about the same things that any human thinks about — emotions, relationships, daily life, tasks to accomplish, and more.
Since the brain has to work harder to process new information, reading may yield better results. You will be better able to comprehend the material and remember it when you actually read it. The reason for this could be that people scan the material rather than read it.
Brain-stimulating activities like reading have been shown to slow down cognitive decline in older age.
We all know that reading is good for us. It can improve brain and memory function and keep your brain operating more effectively as you age. Reading also enhances connectivity in the brain, reduces stress, promotes relaxation, improves sleep, and has the potential to decrease the likelihood of developing Alzheimer's.
other long-term health problems – dementia tends to progress more quickly if the person is living with other conditions, such as heart disease, diabetes or high blood pressure, particularly if these are not well-managed.
forgetting names of people and objects. losing or misplacing items (such as keys or glasses) getting lost in familiar surroundings or on familiar journeys. forgetting how to carry out familiar tasks (such as making a cup of tea)
According to the Alzheimer's Research and Prevention Foundation, regular physical exercise can reduce your risk of developing Alzheimer's disease by up to 50 percent. What's more, exercise can also slow further deterioration in those who have already started to develop cognitive problems.
Many people affected by dementia are concerned that they may inherit or pass on dementia. The majority of dementia is not inherited by children and grandchildren. In rarer types of dementia there may be a strong genetic link, but these are only a tiny proportion of overall cases of dementia.
High blood pressure causes faster cognitive decline, and that taking hypertension medication slows the pace of that decline.
Having a heart attack may put you at risk of accelerated cognitive decline in later years, above and beyond what is considered appropriate for the aging mind, according to a new study. Everyone's brain ages as the years pass, some more than others.
While listening to books activates the part of the brain responsible for language processing and reading a book activates more areas responsible for visual processing, both activities engage semantic processing of information in the same areas of the brain.
Short answer: Yes, it is.
Stanford University researchers have found that close literary reading in particular gives your brain a workout in multiple complex cognitive functions, while pleasure reading increases blood flow to different areas of the brain.
Five benefits of reading include: 1) improved memory, 2) increased focus and concentration, 3) reduced stress levels, 4) enhanced empathy and creativity, and 5) better cognitive function.