Many of us have heard that doing activities like puzzles, playing Sudoku or chess can help stimulate our brain and prevent memory loss, but how many puzzles do we have to do or how many days a week should we have to play chess for it to be useful in the long term?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although the answers to these questions do not yet exist, we are getting closer to knowing what lifestyle adjustments we can adopt to prevent age-related cognitive decline and reduce the risk of dementia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Dementia and cognitive impairment are multifactorial<\/strong>,\u201d says George Rebok<\/a>, Professor Emeritus at the Department of Mental Health and the Department of Psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health<\/a>. \u201cThere is a push for multi-component interventions that involve not just cognitive training, but also dietary practices, good sleep hygiene, exercise, managing your vascular risk factors, and so on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rebok has studied these pathologies for decades and developed interventions to prevent them, which, broadly speaking, have lasting effects on the cognitive abilities of older and middle-aged adults.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Building community also seems to be key. \u201cA lot of times, as people get older, they become more isolated,\u201d says Margaret Flanagan<\/a>, researcher and professor at the University of Texas Health Science Center<\/a>. \u201cSo trying to stay engaged, whether it’s a book club or getting together with friends once a week is important”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n