GOLDEN YEARS

Lifestyle May Be Key to Helping You Avoid Dementia

Socializing, taking classes and exercising may boost your brain’s cognitive reserve and stave off memory and thinking problems down the road, a new study suggests.

Cognitive reserve refers to the brain’s ability to withstand the effects of diseases like Alzheimer’s and not show signs of decline.

The best way to boost your cognitive reserve?

“Never stop being curious, and learn something new or pick up a new hobby,” said study author Pamela Almeida-Meza, a doctoral student at University College London. “Stay active and connected, exercise, go on daily walks, keep in touch with your family and prioritize visiting your friends.”

For the study, researchers looked at genes and lifestyle factors among 1,184 people born in 1946 in the United Kingdom. Folks took cognitive tests when they were 8 and again at 69.

Everyone in the study received a cognitive reserve score that combined their education level at 26, participation in enriching leisure activities at 43, and job up to age 53.

The cognitive test that folks took at age 69 had a maximum total score of 100, and the average score for this group was 92.

Folks with higher childhood cognitive abilities, a higher cognitive reserve score and advanced reading ability performed better on the cognitive test at age 69, the study showed.

People with higher education levels also fared better than their counterparts who did not have a formal education.

Folks who engaged in six or more leisure activities, such as adult education classes, clubs, volunteer work and social activities, scored higher than people who engaged in four or fewer leisure activities.

“The finding suggests that a mentally, socially and physically active lifestyle at midlife can offset the negative contribution of low childhood cognition to older age cognitive state,” Almeida-Meza said.

golden years

By Harold Miller

Email: hmiller@mcsmms.com

The Plight of the World’s Families

Families are the core of civilization. American families are outstanding among all in the world, in my opinion.

Immigrants from near and far cross our borders. They’re searching for the American Dream. While many migrants are willing to work for it, others have found that, working with cartels, they can smuggle dope, which will finance their venture and then some.

Of course, this has caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of migrants and others. That innocent looking powder, which is chemically made in laboratories and labeled Fentanyl — can be poisonous if taken in large amounts.

All of these situations have shuffled the cards. Evil and greed are always waiting in the shadows.

Along with that, most children are separated from their parents and become orphans, who can be sold practically anywhere in the world.

Busloads of immigrants are sent to all corners of our country and all corners of the world. Wouldn’t you think it is time to question our government leaders about open borders?

There’s been a cold war for some time now between China and America for top spot of the world’s economy. China wants it, but America wants to keep it.

Xi Jinping, president of the People’s Republic of China since 2013, mandated a few years ago that each family be limited to one child (if the family bought two or three boys the Chinese government would turn its head the other way). It took a little time for them to learn that a child orphaned and brought up alone in a playpen would be a slow learner (if they learned anything at all).

Along with these plights — Europe has been dragged into war by Russia’s greed and evil. This affects everyone in the world. Families in Africa are starving — mostly because Ukraine supplied almost a quarter of the continent’s wheat and this beautiful country is too busy feeding its own families as whole cities have been blown to bits.

As winter approaches Germany and other Northwestern European countries scramble for fuel because the pipelines have been shut down by Russia (supposedly for maintenance).

Slowly NATO, and even America, is being brought into what may be World War III. Day by day, we up the ante with missiles, drones, ammunition and “teachers” to instruct their usage. Neither side will give up until the last soldier is put into the ground.

I believe we’re living in the most dangerous time in our history. Computers, satellites and nuclear power all provide a higher level of living. But we could be nothing but history by the push of a few buttons.

Perhaps we should all say a prayer every day.