Brain-Stimulating Activity Crucial

A new study from Mayo Clinic in the US city of Scottsdale, published in February, illustrates that mentally stimulating games and other activities could protect against new-onset mild cognitive impairment, which is the intermediate stage between normal cognitive aging and dementia. “Persons who performed these activities at least one to two times per week had less cognitive decline than those who engaged in the same activities only two to three times per month or less,” said Dr. Yonas E. Geda, senior author of the study and a psychiatry and neurology researcher at the clinic, Medical Xpress reported. Playing games was associated with a 22% reduced risk of mild cognitive impairment for those over 70 who do not have established cognitive problems. In addition to games, working on crafts was seen to lower the risk to 28%, computer use to 30% and social activities to 23%, Reuters reported.