reading

 

If you want to keep your memory well into old age, read a book now. It doesn’t have to be great literature. Mysteries or science fiction will suffice just fine. That’s the word from researchers at the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, who have concluded that when people of any age read books, write or participate in other brain-stimulating activities, it may preserve memory. Those who participated in mentally stimulating activities both early and late in life had a slower rate of decline in memory, compared with those who did not participate in such activities across their lifetime, after adjusting for differing levels of plaques and tangles in the brain. Mental activity accounted for nearly 15 percent of the difference in decline beyond what is explained by plaques and tangles in the brain. Specifically, the study found that the rate of decline was reduced by 32 percent in people with frequent mental activity in late life, compared with people with average mental activity. Meanwhile, the rate of decline of those with infrequent activity was 48 percent faster than those with average activity.