Doing the crossword may NOT stave off Alzheimer's

[jimbo 111]

Interesting article
jimbo

Why doing the crossword may NOT stave off Alzheimer's:
Keeping the mind active can't target cause of disease, study finds
Keeping mentally fit can only ease symptoms of Alzheimer's disease
Having an active mind does not affect suspected cause of the disease - a build-up of protein deposits on the brain
Experts said it is still vital to do brain puzzles to aid brain function


Keeping mentally fit and doing the crossword only ease the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, scientists have found.
A study of elderly people without any signs of the disease found that keeping body and mind active with puzzles did not affect the suspected underlying cause - a build-up of protein deposits on the brain
Researchers from Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital studied 186 people with an average age of 74.

All of the participants were free of memory and thinking problems.
They were asked about their levels of physical and mental activity over their lives and wore pedometers for seven days to track their physical activity.
Their brains were then scanned for signs of amyloid-beta deposits on their brain the key marker of Alzheimer’s disease.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/a...-cause-disease-study-finds.html#ixzz3citJozJt

 

[jeany123]

Thank you Jimbo, I wonder how much it cost to find out what we knew all the time,

 

[Saffie]

Exactly Jeany. Thanks Jimbo. Both my husband and my mother did crosswords daily.


Sent from my iPod touch using Talking Point

 

[canary]

I suppose it helps counteract the bogus claims

 

[jimbo 111]

Thank you Jimbo, I wonder how much it cost to find out what we knew all the time,

Jeany
There are a lot of theories about what causes AD
and a lot of tests to determine if you already have it
What makes me dubious about all these reports and theories is that when my wife was being tested by a physciatrist she was able to answer the questions that I failed
, particularly the count backwards numbers
with that and a scan she was confirmed as having AD
Now10+ years on I wonder how I would fair if I took the test myself
I think I'll just soldier on and say I've got a bad memory
( better than worrying for my remaining years that I have AD )
jimbo

 

[Saffie]

After my sister had a ministroke, she was asked to count backwards from 100 in 7s.
Apparantly she got it wrong. Well. I'm not going to be caught out so I started practising and now have it off pat!
Bit of a shame that if I'm in the position of being asked to do it for myself I'll have forgotten I ever knew it!

 

[jimbo 111]

After my sister had a ministroke, she was asked to count backwards from 100 in 7s.
Apparantly she got it wrong. Well. I'm not going to be caught out so I started practising and now have it off pat!
Bit of a shame that if I'm in the position of being asked to do it for myself I'll have forgotten I ever knew it!

Worth a mention-- Worth a laugh

Thank you Saffie

 

[Witzend]

After my sister had a ministroke, she was asked to count backwards from 100 in 7s.
Apparantly she got it wrong. Well. I'm not going to be caught out so I started practising and now have it off pat!
Bit of a shame that if I'm in the position of being asked to do it for myself I'll have forgotten I ever knew it!

I would ALWAYS have had trouble counting backwards in 7s.

Or in anything that wasn't 2s, 5s or 10s, come to that.

As for crosswords, etc., I think we probably all know people who always did all the right things and still got dementia. My FIL was still cycling and playing tennis into his 80s, and doing crosswords and going to French conversation groups, and he still got it.

And almost whatever 'experts' tell you one year, you can almost guarantee they'll be telling you something else later.

Look at eggs, or putting babies to sleep on their tummies - Do it! Do NOT do it! - and now they're telling us that butter might actually be better for us than all those margarines, having told us for so long that it was the work of the devil.

 

[Spamar]

Yeah, we did crosswords every day as well and look at him now..... More like those that do crosswords are, perhaps, more intelligent. Maybe hide it better!
Last time OH was asked to count backwards it was 20 to 10 in ones. With a bit of prompting he started, got to 15, then forgot what he was doing. More prompting on every number got him to 11! Think that was a fail!

 

[LYN T]

Shucks! I've been doing a crossword because I thought it might cancel out a previous report that stated short people are more likely to get Dementia.(I'm vertically challenged) I live in fear of any studies that come to the conclusion that blue eyed brunettes are most at risk!

 

[Beate]

Tomorrow someone will tell us carers are more at risk. Like we can do something about that!

 

[LYN T]

Tomorrow someone will tell us carers are more at risk. Like we can do something about that!

Good point Beate