Intellectual Pursuits Keep
Middle-Aged Mind Sharp

Participating in intellectually challenging leisure-time activities such as reading or taking evening courses appears to improve the middle-aged mind, new research suggests.

UK investigators also found that middle-aged people who took part in more social activities tended to have sharper minds than people who engaged in more solitary pursuits, which included gardening and other household tasks.

These findings support the "use it or lose it" theory, Dr. Archana Singh-Manoux told Reuters Health, which proposes that our intellectual ability is influenced by what we do and our environment.

"Participation in complex leisure activities keeps the brain active and engaged," she said.

Singh-Manoux and her colleagues asked 5352 people between the ages of 35 and 55 about what they do for fun, then tested their mental function.

Participants completed tests assessing their short-term memory, mathematical reasoning and vocabulary. As part of one test, they were asked to list as many words that begin with "s" or as many animals as they could in one minute.

People who spent more time on leisure activities had higher mental function than others, the researchers report in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

And people who more often engaged in activities that challenged the mind and brought them in contact with other people tended to have sharper minds than people who spent their free time on other pursuits. Activities linked to higher mental function included cultural visits, social and indoor games like cards or chess, reading, listening to music, and participating in voluntary organizations.

Singh-Manoux, based at the University College London, conceded that it could be argued that people with sharper minds are more likely to engage in complex, intellectual activities. To control for that possibility, she said that she and her colleagues used statistics to remove the influence of education and profession type from their results, two factors strongly related to intellectual ability.

A number of studies have shown that hobbies and socializing help keep the mind sharp in old age, Singh-Manoux noted. The current study addresses a growing body of evidence suggesting that what we do early in life can also influence the state of our minds in old age, she noted.

"Not all individuals decline at the same rate in old age, so some factors during the 'lifecourse,' both in early adulthood and middle age, must offer protection," Singh-Manoux said.

SOURCE: Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, November, 2003.

Reference Source 89

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