Late retirement guards against early dementia

A recent study has found that those who keep mentally active in later life are less likely to develop early symptoms of dementia, says a recent Guardian report. The study involved 382 men who had likely dementia and the results suggested that later retirement was likely to delay any symptoms.

The main study however was carried out at the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College on 1,320 people with dementia and was funded by the Alzheimer's Research Trust and the Medical Research Council.

It was found that postponing retirement had a direct effect on whether a person developed dementia as working apparently keeps a person's mental abilities sharp enough to ward off the condition. Surprisingly, it was also found that level of education and type of employment had no links with this risk.

scientific advisor and a contributor to the International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry Simon Lovestone said that people gained enough mental stimulation from the workplace to maintain their mental abilities and that this keeps older people above the threshold for dementia for a longer period.

It is clear however that much more research is needed before definite conclusions can be drawn and that the message to older people is to maintain mental and physical activity whether retired or not.

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