Engaging In Lifelong Mental Calisthenics Will Set You Up To Better Handle Inevitable Decline That Comes With Aging
The study's results are generally consistent with the finding that people who are more highly educated, and whose career paths involved more intellectual challenge, build a “cognitive reserve” that can delay the worst depredations of dementia.
Los Angeles Times:
Your Aging Brain: Is It ‘Use It Or Lose It’?
Yes, your brain is like a muscle: If you don’t strengthen and stretch its capacities, it will not deliver high performance. But your brain is not like one of those forgiving muscles that lets you engage in a lifetime of indolence and then perks up willingly when you take up weight-training upon retirement. No, your brain is more like one of those muscles that will reward you for having worked it across the full length of your lifespan. (Healy, 12/11)
In other public health news —
Sacramento Bee:
Is The Sizzle Out Of Steak? New Studies Link Red Meat To Raised Heart Disease Risk
Two new scientific studies add to evidence that a diet rich in red meat can raise the risk of heart disease. (Caraccio, 12/11)