You may have heard before that exercise and staying active can help prevent Alzheimer’s disease and help you to feel younger as you age. You may have even read that in a blog I wrote. This is all information that researchers have uncovered over the years as they learn more about the brain and aging, and the current evidence points to the fact that it’s true.
But there’s a bit more to it than this, new evidence indicates. A team of researchers from the University of California at San Diego believe that these activities are helpful, but they impact men and women’s brains in different manners.
Exercise and reading tended to help women build mental reserves more than men. Puzzles and logic games tended to help men more than they helped women. “Mental reserves” is a term used by the research team to describe the protective factors that these things help to build.
The team also stressed that building mental reserves early on is more effective than waiting. The sooner someone starts exercising, growing your knowledge, eating right, and working through challenging topics, the bigger these mental reserves become as we age. Although it’s not a foolproof system, the research indicates that the greater the mental reserves are, the less of a chance of developing cognitive issues, such as Alzheimer’s disease, becomes.
We don’t know everything about Alzheimer’s. There’s no cure for the disease and when someone has the disease, they will decline in cognitive and physical health until they eventually pass away from the disease. There’s a lot more about Alzheimer’s that we need to learn still, a lot more research that needs to be done. Hopefully, this research can help future studies to grow our understanding of the disease even more.
Working with those that are struggling as they age is what we do. Our caregivers are trained to help meet the needs of the elderly, whatever those needs might be. Whether it’s dementia, a physical disability, or someone in recovery from surgery or another type of procedure, having a team working alongside you that understands and can meet your family’s unique needs might be and can help you to meet them. That’s the benefit of a trained, caring team. Each situation is a little bit different, so having a team that is flexible is also important.
And this is why we are such big fans of in-home care. This is one of the few types of senior care that lets caregivers provide care in a setting of the person in need’s choosing. Care is provided in the home, in a one on one setting. It allows caregivers to make the tiny adjustments that can make care not feel like Care, but help those receiving it feel like they are interacting with a friend. In-home care can often lead to close relationships between caregiver and the person in need. It’s not just care, it’s a close bond.
Would you like to learn more about senior care and how it might help? We’re here for you. Get in touch and one of our trained professionals would be happy to go into more details with you.
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