A study suggests that living a healthy lifestyle lessens the risk to memory loss as a person grows older.
A group of researchers from the University of California Los Angeles, Calif., analyzed a previous research associating healthy activities such as exercising, eating nutritious meals, and quitting smoking to the reduction of risk to Alzheimer's and dementia but they couldn't see a link between these activities in preventing memory loss to various age groups.
Gary W. Small, lead author of the study and a professor of psychiatry and director of the UCLA Longevity Center at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience & Human Behavior, and his team conducted a phone survey to 18,552 participants in the U.S with age range of 19 to 99 years old. About 23.84 percent of the respondents belong to age group 18 to 39 years old, 32.26 percent of age group 40 to 59 years old, and 41.90 from age 60 to 99. They categorized the groups as young, middle-aged, and old. The questionnaires included demographic information and questions about smoking, eating habits, and physical activities. Their responses were then reviewed and used to compare it with their memory capabilities.
The findings of their analysis revealed that older adults were more likely to live healthy lifestyles than the younger and middle-aged group. Memory problem is already evident on 14 percent of the young group, 22 percent of the middle-aged, and 26 percent of the older group. Those who eat healthy has better memory regardless of the age group, quitting smoking work better for the younger and middle-aged group, while exercising benefits the middle-aged and older group.
How can a young person have memory problem at an early age? The researchers supposed that stress may be the contributor. However, the impact of stress can also be managed by living a healthy lifestyle.
This study was published on an online journal International Psychogeriatrics.
