Being Busy Is Good For Your Brain

Next time you feel overwhelmed with your workload, just remember it’s good for your brain.

Research has shown that busy people have better cognitive function and are less likely to develop dementia in later life. Specifically, when they get older they tend to have a better memory; better reasoning ability and a higher vocabulary.

This research was published in the journal Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience. It involved 330 individuals who were aged between 50 and 89. Each person was given a series of neuropsychological tests which measured their cognitive performance.

Sara Festini was the lead author of the study and said: “We show that people who report greater levels of daily busyness tend to have better cognition, especially with regard to memory for recently learned information.” As people get older and start to develop dementia, they typically forget things they only recently learned.

Using your brain by carrying out mentally demanding tasks is certainly one good way of staying sharp into older age. Being comfortably busy is good for you, but being overworked, stressed out and getting run down isn’t. Sometimes being busy is not a choice and life throws a large number of responsibilities at you. It is very important to take some time out to unwind and relax and make sure you get adequate rest and sleep.

Your diet and exercise are also critically important for keeping your brain healthy into old age. Read more in my book about Alzheimer’s disease.

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