Social activity can help combat Alzheimer’s

Keeping socially active can be one positive way of helping to combat Alzheimer’s disease according to US researchers at the Rush University Medical Centre who looked at a group of elderly people to examine possible correlation between the disease and sociability.

The researchers looked at 823 people in and around Chicago with an average age of about 80, none of whom had dementia at the start of the study.

Over a four-year period, the study participants were asked about their social activity; whether they felt they had enough friends, whether they felt abandoned, or experienced a sense of emptiness. They were given a score between 0 (the least lonely) and 5 (the most lonely).

Over the four years, 76 people in the study developed Alzheimer’s. Those who did were more likely to have poor social networks; the higher they scored, the greater the risk. Those with a score of 3.2 or more (the loneliest 10%) had double the risk of those scoring below 1.4 (the least lonely 10%).

Many other studies have shown that mental stimulation – reading, doing crosswords, playing cards, and going to the theatre – reduces the risk of the condition. But one constant factor in the reduction of risk for the condition is having good social networks. The company of other people is mentally stimulating – conversation keeps the neurons firing, even if it’s about the most mundane matters.