Women who are married or living with someone are more likely to be resilient to dementia as they get older, according to a new Australian report on cognitive ageing and decline.
Why?
The study by the ARC Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing Research (CEPAR) and Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA) puts this down to the education divide between men and women – traditionally, women had less education than men and benefited from marrying someone who was more educated.
But with this gap now narrowing, will we see those benefits decrease?
Should you ‘put a ring on it’?
Rather than hopping on RSVP, the researchers say we should focus on the seven key lifestyle factors – which can all lower your risk of dementia:
- Midlife hypertension
- Diabetes
- Low education
- Smoking
- Physical inactivity
- Mid-life obesity
- Depression
We invest so much time and money in our superannuation as we get older – why not make the same investment in our brain?
The researchers say managing cardiovascular risk and depression can make a real difference to your dementia risk, especially for men. The same goes for exercise and keeping your brain active by challenging it to learn something new such as a language or instrument. Or just tackling that crossword puzzle you’ve always dismissed as too hard.
Sudoku anyone?
