Doing puzzles and joining clubs could help you age well: New research

by Aung Zaw Zaw Phyo, Joanne Ryan, The Conversation

edited by Lisa Lock, reviewed by Andrew Zinin

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Growing old is a fact of life. But thanks to improved health care and innovative technology, more of us are living longer and healthier lives.

However, aging isn't always easy. That's because your body and mind decline as you get older, and become more vulnerable to various diseases such as diabetes, dementia and some cancers.

In our new study, we followed more than 12,000 older Australians to find out if staying socially and mentally active could help people stay physically fit in older age.

Here's what we discovered.

How your body ages

As we age, the tissues and organs in your body start to work less effectively. This is due to a process known as biological aging, which scientists track by measuring how well the cells in your body function.

This process affects every person differently. That's why some people may stay healthy well into their twilight years, while others age prematurely and become physically frail.

Frailty is a common condition among older people, which affects your ability to recover from illness or injury.

It's a sign your body is deteriorating, and may increase your risk of falling and being hospitalized. It may also leave you more vulnerable to various diseases such as heart disease, dementia and depression, and even early death.

What we studied

In our recent study, we investigated whether certain social and learning-based activities could help prevent or reduce frailty in older people.

Specifically, we focused on 19 types of activities that would engage older people on either a cognitive, social or cultural level. Examples include passive mental stimulation activities such as listening to music or watching television, and more active activities such as doing puzzles or playing chess.

Importantly, our study did not look at the effect of other lifestyle factors—such as regular exercise and healthy eating—on frailty. This is because there is already much research showing these factors significantly reduce a person's risk of premature frailty.

For our study, we recruited 12,862 Australians aged 70 years and above. All were in relatively good health and did not have any major diseases, such as heart disease or dementia.

We then followed them over an 11-year period, each year collecting data about key disease indicators. These included how much excess abdominal fat participants had and whether they smoked or not.

We also assessed their cognitive function, for example, by asking them to recall a list of words after saying a short sentence. We measured their physical performance by seeing how quickly they walked, and how firmly they could squeeze an object with their hands. And we examined how easily they completed daily tasks, such as dressing, bathing and meal preparation.

We also used two scientific tools to determine how each participant was aging. This included the deficit-accumulation-index that measures aging across the whole body, and the Fried phenotype that measures how physically frail a person may be.

What we found

Our study found socializing and learning was linked to staying physically stronger for longer.

On average, participants who joined a club or local organization were 3% less likely to become frail, over a seven-year period. Similarly, having a larger support network—for example, at least four relatives or friends they could regularly contact and ask for help—was also linked to reduced frailty. This may be because both forms of social connection encourage older people to use their brains and get out and about.

We observed this same effect among participants who engaged in mentally stimulating activities, such as playing cards and chess or doing puzzles and crosswords. These kinds of passive mental activities appeared to reduce frailty risk by about 4%. And participants who engaged in literacy tasks—such as writing letters, using a computer or attending educational classes—were 2% less likely to become frail compared to their peers.

However, women seemed to benefit the most from these activities, which reduced their likelihood of becoming frail by between 3% and 6%. We observed no similar effect among men.

These differences are modest but consistent, suggesting that regularly engaging in certain social and learning-based activities could help you stay healthier for longer.

Where to from here?

Our new research underscores the importance of involving older people in social and learning-based activities.

However, it's difficult to know if social and learning-based activities ward off frailty more effectively than other lifestyle factors, such as physical exercise and diet. So that should be a focus of future research.

From a policy perspective, governments should invest in age-friendly infrastructure such as libraries and community centers. Installing assistive equipment—such as ramps and grab rails—will ensure older people can regularly attend social or learning-based activities.

So, how can I age well?

There are many ways to socialize and learn in everyday life. Here are four practical ideas:

• stay in regular contact with relatives and friends, for example by setting a calendar reminder to text them or organizing a monthly coffee catch-up
• prioritize activities that engage your brain, such as reading the newspaper, playing chess or listening to the radio
• join a club that aligns with your interests, for example a book club or swimming group
• get out and about, for instance to visit a library, restaurant, museum or theater.

Key medical concepts

FrailtyAGING BIOLExercise

Clinical categories

Geriatric palliative careHealthy agingFamily medicinePsychology & Mental healthHealthy living Provided by The Conversation Who's behind this story?

Lisa Lock

BA art history, MA material culture. Former museum editor, paramedic, and transplant coordinator. Editing for Science X since 2021. Full profile →

Andrew Zinin

Master's in physics with research experience. Long-time science news enthusiast. Plays key role in Science X's editorial success. Full profile →

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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