Brain exercise - how does that work for dementia?
Not enough research has been done on this, but clearly two people might have the same level of Alzheimer pathology in their brain, and one has fewer signs of dementia.
On one of my visits abroad to meet with colleagues supporting people with dementia on the other side of the world, I met a lawyer in her fifties whose family all had an inherited from of Alzheimer's that usually starts at working age.
Working age dementia is often described as dementia in people under the age of 65. She observed that those of her brothers and sisters who had college education started their symptoms around 10 years later than those who never went to college. Her own daughter who was a rebel and walked out of education altogether started symptoms in her 30’s.
“Education is like working out for your brain. The more strength you build in your muscles, the more spare capacity you have if something goes physically wrong with your body.”
With a regime of exercise and social support the lawyer was doing fine most of the time. She gave up work when she discovered that it was difficult to drive her car from home to her office…The difference between those siblings illustrates the point that education seems to help.
Education is like working out for your brain. The more strength you build in your muscles, the more spare capacity you have if something goes physically wrong with your body. Exercise won't prevent the broken leg, but it will help you recover more quickly. It's like that with mental exercise. It won't prevent dementia but it will keep symptoms at bay for longer. Bilingual people seem to get a positive effect as well. There are benefits from developing your brain. Quality education provided to children now will help to prevent dementia in the future. Not enough research has been done on this, but clearly two people might have the same level of Alzheimer pathology in their brain, and one has fewer signs of dementia. That’s the person who was lucky enough to have had more formal education. Its never too late to start, but if you take one message away from this it is this.
Encourage young people to study for as long as possible and never stop trying to learn new things.
