Party on, Gramps!

Alzheimers and dementia are no laughing matter, but in addition to other non-intuitive treatments, this unusual advice may be just the ticket:

"Keeping a full social calendar may help protect you from dementia...Socially active people who were not easily stressed had a 50 percent lower risk of developing dementia compared with [those] who were isolated and prone to distress."

This is from a new report in the medical journal Neurology, which tracked some 500 senior Swedes, none of whom had been previously diagnosed with dementia. The study lasted six years; by the end, about a third had developed dementia. What was (perhaps) surprising was that folks with more active social lives were about 50% less likely to develop those symptoms.

It appears likely, based on this study, that there are some significant environmental and lifestyle factors that play roles in dementia; that's good news, since these are things we can (at least to an extent) control.