A study conducted over a period of 12 years on more than 1100 people in the United States found that those who read regularly, solve puzzles, visit museums or even listened to the radio were better able to avoid dementia.

There is however an exception. If dementia does affect someone who is regularly exercising their brain then the decline is much faster if dementia does hit him.

We observed that people who were highly active compared to people who sis not report a history of high activity were about 80 percent less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease. They declined cognitively almost 80 percent less rapidly.

The most shocking part of the study was that it was found that in people who developed Alzheimer’ disease, a history of being cognitively active was actually associated with more rapid cognitive decline.

The author wrote, “In effect, the results of this study suggest that the benefit of delaying the initial appearance of cognitive impairment [in Alzheimer’s disease] comes at the cost of more rapid dementia progression.”