Good Lifestyle

Protectivebrain health And cognitive functioning as we get agitated is crucial. Currently, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that 5.8 million people in the United StatesLive with dementia. With this number that increases only to increase, many recent studies have been oriented towards understanding the causes of the state, as well as what could help prevent it. Such a study has studied the relationship between cognitive decline and something you may have already at home. Read on to discover how this only thing could help prevent the development of dementia.

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Studies have found different foods and drinks that can either increase or mitigate your risk of dementia. A recent study, for example, revealed thatvitamin k has the potential to improve cognitive abilities in the aging brain. Different forms of vitamin K are found in green leafy vegetables, fermented foods, some cheeses, meat and fish - and research suggests that optimal daily doses can help protect your brain in the long run. Now another study has linked the cognitive advantages to something that many of us know each other and love.

You may want to hold your friendly friend much tighter and perhaps offer them an extra chew toy, because the results of a recent study suggest that they could actually helpSlow rate of cognitive decline. Preliminary data were presented at the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) meeting earlier this month, describing how "supported relationships with pets" could help keep your brain healthy.

"Previous studies have suggested that the human-animal link can have health benefits such as the decrease in blood pressure and stress," said the author of the Tiffany Braley, MD, MS, Associate Professor. Neurology at the Medical Center of the University of Michigan, in a press AAN Liberation. "Our results suggest that the possession of animals can also beProtector against cognitive decline. ""

Richard Isaacson, MD, Director of the Alzheimer Prevention Clinic at the Center for Brain Health of the Schmidt College of Medicine of Florida Atlantic University, echoed that when he spoke with CNN results. According to Isaacson, who was not affiliated with the study,Possess a pet or several pets Integrates the "central components of a healthy-brain lifestyle".

"Cognitive engagement, socialization, physical activity and purpose can separate, or more in combination, the main risk factors modifiable for the cognitive decline and dementia of Alzheimer's disease", Has he told CNN.

The study examined cognitive data of 1,369 adults over 50 years of a health and retirement study from the University of Michigan. Participants had an average age of 65 years and normal cognitive skills at the beginning of the study. More than half of the participants (53%) held pets, and among them, 32% were long-standing animal owners (those with pets for more than five years).

Over the age of six years, between 2010 and 2016, these participants received cognitive tests, including a reminder of words, a subtraction test and a "back counting" test. The results helped researchers develop a composite cognitive score for each participant, ranging from one to 27, which was then used to estimate the associations between years of possession of TEP and cognitive function, the press release of the press. AAN.

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The researchers found that the cognitive composite scores of animal owners had decreased at a slower pace compared to non-small owners. These results were stronger for the owners of long-term pets, whose average scores were higher by 1.2 points than the owners who are not at six years old, said the press release from the ANA.AE0FCC31AE342FD3A1346EBB1F342FCB

Demographic data seemed to come into play, as animal owners generally had a higher socioeconomic status compared to non-petty owners. Researchers also found that adults educated in college, black adults and men who were long -term animal owners had even greater cognitive advantages.

In an email in CNN, the first author Jennifer Applebaum, doctoral candidate of sociology and national health institutes (NIH) of the University of Florida, identified demography as an additional survey area, research Having already been focused on white women (the study itself was mainly composed of white participants).

"We lack sufficient information on men (and other people) and people of color, especially the owners of black pets," Applebaum told CNN.

While researchers could not definitively defineWhy According to Braley, the property of the long -term pets has had the best effect, of having a pet that can help to reduce stress and prevent you from moving - both to keep your brain healthy.

"As stress can negatively affect cognitive function, the potential effects in the property stress buffer could provide a plausible reason for our conclusions," Braley said in the Aan press release. "A companion animal can also increase physical activity, which could benefit from cognitive health."

The results are encouraging, but the study was not without limitation. As the duration of the property of pets was only evaluated, this eliminated the ability of researchers to assess the continuous property of pets. Researchers do not recommend having a pet "as a therapeutic intervention" because sometimes the property of pets can actually lead to higher depression rates, Applebaum told CNN. In fact, in this study, pet owners had a lower prevalence of hypertension, but a higher rate of depression.

Additional research is necessary to confirm the most recent results and "identify the underlying mechanisms of this association," said Braley.

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