Scientists reveal that crosswords are related to dementia prevention

The researchers found that solving crosswords or sudoku throughout your life did not slow down the mental decline of older adults.

These activities build mental capacity. Therefore, when the brain begins to deteriorate, there is a "higher cognitive point" in which it can retreat.

Experts have long believed that people who perform complex activities or replace intellectual puzzles that put more effort on the brain are protected from mental decline.

Scientists also thought that brain exercises for such activities during life slowed the rate at which the brain deteriorated with age.

However, a new Scottish study found that this was unrealistic and that such activities had no effect on mental decline, but that regular lifelong intellectual activities could improve mental capacity and provide "superior cognitive point" in which to withdraw.

The team of scientists from Aberdeen University recruited 498 participants aged 64, followed them over the next 15 years and monitored their mental abilities throughout this period.

Scientists found that those who regularly exercised intellectual stimuli had a higher mental capacity at the beginning of the study, but there was no difference in the speed with which their abilities decreased over the next 15 years.

The findings suggest that engaging in problem solving does not protect the individual from retirement, but supports the theory of "cognitive reserve", the ability that some people need to maintain their memory and their intelligence despite the effects of aging.

Since regular use of the brain for complex tasks creates a greater number of connections between brain cells, the brain then has backup networks that can be used when the brain process begins to break down with the brain. Age, or when dementia begins to attack.

Source: Daily Mail