Social life is essential to help people improve their memory and evade issues associated with dementia, a new study says.
Social Life and Early Signs of Dementia
Healthy socialization, according to the research, might help people who have early signs of the condition get back their recollection and other their brain functions on track. The activities could range from spending time face-to-face with the immediate circle, joining classes, volunteering in groups, or attending religious gatherings.
The experts behind the new theory explained that socializing can work even if an individual experienced the signs years prior today. The discovery offers a simple but beneficial option for mental health, especially for people who had their recollection and cognitive skills deteriorate during the series of lockdowns.
The study was made possible through the help of mental health data collected from more than 2,200 individuals in the United States. The participants involved in the investigation belong to an age group of 69 to 90 years. Among the subjects, there were a total of 972 people that were diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment or MCI, a condition that commonly results in dementia.
After five years of observation, the authors found that 22 percent of the group with MCI had their cognition skills improved. The shift was substantial that the experts consider the brain functions already back to normal, DailyMail reports.
From the same group, twelve percent were detected with dementia, while 66 percent remained with their initial state. Throughout the examination, the expert concluded that those individuals who had an active social life were more likely to obtain a better brain function improvement.
The study was led by the University of Utah's Sociology Department chair Ming Wen.
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Preventing Development of Dementia Possible
In a recent presentation of the findings at the Alzheimer's Research UK Conference, Wen explained that people think of the particular neurological disorder as a "one-way direction," a common misconception, in which being cognitively impaired means there is no coming back.
Wen said their study found that even if a person was cognitively impaired five years ago, a chance to improve brain functions is still available.
By actively participating in social interactions such as meeting with friends, attending religious services, volunteering, and other types of socializing, affected people could have a stabilized memory and cognition again, the author continued.
The findings show that even just as light as one event of addition in social activity can help people increase their likelihood of reversing cognitive decline up to 41 percent.
Wen said that any socialization is better than nothing, and regular participation in these activities reflects a better improvement.
Closer social relationships were also identified to have a protective impact against the full development of dementia but were not associated with the likelihood of MCI reversal.
The study included other factors relating to the condition, such as rate of physical exercise, ethnicity, drinking and smoking frequency, gender, age, socio-economic background, and work life.
The paper for this new research is not yet published and peer-reviewed.
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