Social engagement results in better cognitive performance in old age
Summary
- Social engagement results in better cognitive performance in old age
Details
- 30-50 % lower dementia risk
- socializing is a mental challenge - need to remember names, faces, react to others facial expressions, body language, etc.
References
- New scientist 2024
Quotes
Higher levels of social engagement in mid or later life, for example, are strongly linked with better cognitive performance in older age and a 30 to 50 per cent lower dementia risk. Socialising is a mental challenge: you have to remember faces, names and the context of other people, navigate a conversation, ask questions, use humour and observe social cues, says Andrew Sommerlad at University College London. “There’s a lot going on at once,” he says, which stretches the brain, and it also has a stress-lowering effect. In fact, a lack of these kinds of interactions might have predisposed my mother to dementia. She was diagnosed with depression aged 38 and could withdraw from others for months on end.