The benefits of mind-body activity on thinking differ between men and women

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<600> Mind-body activity helps preserve thinking skills and delay dementia. These benefits may be different for men and women, a new study suggests.

< /p>American Academy of Neurology, July 20th

The study looked at reading, attending class Effects of physical and mental activities, such as playing cards or games, on cognitive reserve in terms of thinking speed and memory. Cognitive reserve is the buffer that occurs when people have strong thinking abilities, even when their brains show signs of underlying changes associated with cognitive impairment and dementia. The findings were recently published in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN).

Research published in Neurology on July 20, 2022 (latest impact factor: 11.8>

The study’s author, Dr Judy Pa from the University of California, San Diego, said: “We found that the more physical activity women were, the greater the reserve of thought speed. Faster, which is not the case for men. The effect of mental activity is different, with more participation in mental activity being associated with a greater reserve of thinking speed in both men and women.”

Dr. Judy Pa

Men and women, more physical activity and memory reserve No associations.

This study involved 758 people with an average age of 76. Some people have no thinking or memory problems, some have mild cognitive impairment, and some have dementia. Participants underwent brain scans, thinking speed and memory tests. To calculate cognitive reserve, the researchers compared people’s thinking test scores with dementia-related brain changes, such as total volume of the hippocampus, the hippocampus is a key brain region affected by Alzheimer’s disease.

People were also asked about their weekly physical activity. In terms of brain activity, they were asked if they had participated in three types of activities in the past 13 months: reading a magazine, newspaper or book; going to Take a class; play cards, games or bingo. Give them one point for each activity, up to three points.

In terms of mental activity, participants scored an average of 1.4 points. In terms of physical activity, participants participated in an average of at least 15 minutes per week of heart rate-boosting activities such as brisk walking and cycling.

Pa says that people are 13 years less in their mental processing speed for every extra mental activity they do, 17 years for men and 10 years for women .

“As we have few effective treatments for Alzheimer’s disease, prevention is critical. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.It’s exciting to know that people can boost their cognitive reserve by taking simple steps like attending a class at a community center, playing bingo with friends, spending more time walking or gardening .”

Pa said, based on what the study sawEffect size, when it comes to women’s mental processing speed, doubling their physical activity equates to about 2.75 years less of their aging age.

Researchers also examined whether the relationship between physical and mental activity and cognitive reserve Affected by APOE e4, the gene most susceptible to Alzheimer’s disease. They found that, in women, possessing this gene attenuated the beneficial relationship between physical and mental activity and cognitive reserve.

This study did not demonstrate that physical and mental activity contributes to cognitive reserve. It only shows one association.

One limitation of this study is that people self-reported their physical and mental activity, so they may not remember accurately. Furthermore, structural and social factors affecting cognitive reserve, such as education, were not measured in the study.

This research was supported by the National Institute on Aging and the National Center for Advancing Translational Science.

Founded in 1960 at the University of California, San Diego

Reference

Literature

Source: American Academy of Neurology

Do benefits of physical, mental activity on thinking differ for men and women?

Reference:

< p>Judy Pa, Vahan Aslanyan, Kaitlin B. Casaletto, Miguel Arce RenterÃa, Amal Harrati, Sarah E. Tom, Nicole Armstrong, Kumar Rajan, Justina Avila-Rieger, Yian Gu, Nicole Schupf, Jennifer J. Manly, Adam Brickman, Laura Zahodne. Effects of Sex, APOE4, and Lifestyle Activities on Cognitive Reserve in Older Ad ults. Neurology, 2022; 10.1212/WNL.0000000000200675 DOI: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000200675

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