After publishing an important study about old age and cognitive decline, Neurology editors argued in a subscription-only editorial that reading and writing can actually “slow down late-life cognitive decline.”
The study looked at the reading, writing and thinking habits of 294 older people, counting mental activity in younger years and the later years. Medscape has more about the study:
In an accompanying editorial, Prashanthi Vemuri, PhD, and Elizabeth C. Mormino, PhD, from the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, note that the these new findings “potentially address a question that all of us ask from time to time — can we do anything to slow down late-life cognitive decline? The results suggest yes — read more books, write more, and do activities that keep your brain busy irrespective of your age.”