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From Sudoku to socialising, we’ve all heard that keeping the mind active can be good for our brain health.
But knowing just what to do to keep the mind sharp can be a bit of a puzzle.
In this pillar we’ll examine the potential benefits of socialising and of hobbies and activities from crosswords to knitting and brain training. We’ll also find out what the experts recommend.
Humans have a fundamental need to interact with others and evidence is mounting that social engagement may help people maintain their mental fitness.
While it is difficult to conclusively prove the link, taken as a whole, the evidence suggests that being socially active helps maintain thinking skills and slows cognitive decline in later life.
In fact, the Global Council on Brain Health (GCBH), an independent panel of scientists, doctors, academics and policy experts which provides trusted information on how to maintain and improve brain health, states that there is ‘compelling evidence’ that social engagement has a positive effect on the brain, although more research is needed.
Social Activity and Ageing Brain
From meeting friends and family, to taking a cookery class, going to church or doing voluntary work, there are lots of ways of staying socially active.
One seminal study into the benefits of social activity examined the brain function and brain volume of retired adults who volunteered in primary schools through the Experience Corps tutoring scheme in the U.S.
The voluntary work didn’t just benefit the children, it led to improvements in memory, processing speed and executive function skills (a number of abilities, including prioritisation, multi-tasking and planning ahead) in the adults.
Remarkably, a 2016 trial showed that volunteering halted and, in men, even reversed age-related shrinkage of brain regions vulnerable to dementia.
The researchers calculated that two years of volunteering with the Experience Corps for 15 hours a week took around three years off brain age. One volunteer, a Mr Kim, simply said: ‘Volunteering removed the cobwebs from my brain.’
A 2019 study from the UK provides the strongest evidence to date that social contact earlier in life plays a role in staving off dementia.
The researchers crunched data on more than 10,000 adults whose health had been tracked for an average of 28 years.
The men and women, who were aged between 35 and 55 at the start of the study, underwent five rounds of cognitive tests, including tests of memory, vocabulary and mental arithmetic, and filled in six surveys about how often they saw friends and relatives. Finally, their health records were checked for diagnoses of dementia.
Analysis revealed that those who were socially active when they were 60 were less likely to go on to develop dementia.
The link has been made before in studies that have covered a shorter period of time. This meant they couldn’t rule out the possibility that those who socialised less were already in the early stages of dementia.
While the latest study doesn’t definitively prove that social engagement is providing protection against dementia, by tracking the participants for almost three decades rather than a few years, it strengthens the odds that this is indeed the case.
The GCBH’s tips on getting the most out of socialising include focusing on relationships and activities that you enjoy and maintaining contact with people of different ages, including younger people.
Those who find socialising difficult are advised to start small by, for instance, sharing a smile a day with someone or showing an interest in someone by asking how they are.
There is increasing evidence that taking part in cognitively stimulating activities, from learning to play a musical instrument to juggling, may help lower the risk of dementia and age-related cognitive impairment.
And, contrary to the popular saying that ‘you can’t teach an old dog new tricks’, you can learn things at any age. The sooner you start, however, the better.
Crucially, there isn’t a ‘magic bullet’ – one activity that has been shown to be better than others for keeping the brain healthy – and so experts advise doing the things you like to do.
In 2017, after weighing up the latest scientific research on the topic, the GCBH stated: ‘Consider practising tai-chi, taking photography classes, designing a quilt, investigating your genealogy, juggling, cooking, gardening and learning how to play a musical instrument.’
Its other suggestions include playing with grandchildren, playing cards and playing chess.
Other research has found the more mentally stimulating activities someone does, from crosswords and Sudoku to going to the cinema, the better. Those with the busiest brains are less likely to develop both mild cognitive impairment (MCI), the slight memory lapses that can be a precursor of dementia, and dementia itself.
Importantly, the activities needn’t be intellectual – dancing and gardening and knitting and other crafts all fit the bill.
Scientists have several theories about why keeping the brain busy may also keep it healthy.
The main one revolves around something called cognitive reserve. This is the idea that the things we experience throughout our lives, including our education, jobs and hobbies, rewire and reshape the brain – a phenomenon called neuroplasticity.
These constant changes to the brain are believed to make it more resilient to decline and disease.
The greater a person’s cognitive reserve, the more they are protected against both age-related memory changes and the onset of dementia, so the theory goes.
Studies show, for instance, that those with less than eight years of education are more than twice as likely to develop dementia as those with more education.
Two people can have the similar amounts of beta-amyloid, the sticky brain protein that is a hallmark of Alzheimer’s, however, the one that has built up a high cognitive reserve over their life, perhaps by going on to higher education and having an intellectually demanding job, is less likely to develop dementia than the other.
Even if they do develop Alzheimer’s, their symptoms will be less severe than those of someone who has the same amount of beta-amyloid in their brain but a lower cognitive reserve.
It is thought that constantly learning throughout our lives makes brain networks more efficient, meaning they have to work less hard to complete tasks. As a result, they can better cope when damage starts to accumulate.
Someone with a greater cognitive reserve may also find it easier to switch to an alternative brain network when the one they usually use is diseased, allowing them to complete tasks for longer.
There are several other theories about why keeping your brain busy can be good for its health. For instance, socialising may provide valuable emotional support and ease stress.
This is important as the stress hormone cortisol may damage networks in the hippocampus, a brain region key to memory and studies have linked chronic stress in mid-life with higher odds of developing dementia.
Another important concept is brain maintenance. There is good evidence that many of the factors that contribute to cognitive reserve may also actually help “maintain the brain.” That is, the brain may show less of the changes that occur with normal ageing, and may even show less aggregation of Alzheimer’s pathology.
Finally, if the people we socialise with have healthy lifestyles, we may be encouraged to adopt healthier habits and make changes to diet or exercise that benefit our brain health.
