Between volunteering and mental decline in old age there is a connection, apparently. This is reported by researchers from Boston, in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.
Higher concentration of the protein Amyloid-β, the first indications of Alzheimer’s disease. The current study suggests that social Engagement for seniors, in which such typical changes are already in the brain, is particularly important: In older adults with higher Amyloid-β deposits were those who dedicated themselves to the beginning of the study little or not at all social, a stronger decline in mental capacity. For seniors engaged in volunteer activities, demonstrated this connection.
"Social Engagement and intellectual capabilities and also seem together to sinken", the author of the Study Dr. Nancy Donovan, head of the Department for geriatric psychiatry at Brigham and Women’s Hospital said. "This means that social Engagement may be an important indicator of the resilience or vulnerability of older adults who may be at risk of a cognitive impairment exists."
The researchers had interviewed a total of 217 men and women participating in the Harvard Aging Brain Study, a long-term observation study in the early signs of Alzheimer’s disease was. The 63 – to 89-Year-old showed no mental impairment, but some individuals had a high content of Amyloid β-proteins, such as image showed on imaging procedures.
ZOU