Busy Lifestyles Lead To Better Cognitive Function In Older Adults

If you have a busy lifestyle, then you tend to perform better on tests of cognitive function, compared to your less busy peers, according a Dallas Lifespan Brain Study, which examines the age-related changes in cognition as well as brain function among older adults.

"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," said Sara Festini, a postdoctoral researcher from the University of Texas at Dallas and lead author of the study.

"We were surprised at how little research there was on busyness, given that being too busy seems to be a fact of modern life for so many," added Denise Park, also of the University of Texas and director of the Dallas Lifespan Brain Study.

While examining 330 healthy men and women between 50 and 89 years in the Dallas Lifespan Brain Study, the researchers employed surveys for information on their daily schedules as well as a series of neuropsychological tests that showed their cognitive performance.

The results showed that busy people of whatever age or function tend to exhibit higher degrees of cognitive functioning. This includes the brain's faster processing speed, a better working memory, reasoning as well as enhanced vocabulary. Moreover, the association could be stronger if the memory or the ability to remember specific places, events and the emotions that were felt within them were also stronger.

However, in spite of the available information, there are not enough causal links between keeping busy and direct improvement in cognition among older people. It is quite possible that people who exhibit better cognitive functioning tend to lead busier lifestyles.

However, there is evidence that busy people tend to be exposed to better learning opportunities even as they have increased exposure to new information. Learning, moreover, can stimulate cognition too.

"Living a busy lifestyle appears beneficial for mental function, although additional experimental work is needed to determine if manipulations of busyness have the same effect," Festini said.

The findings were published in the May 17 issue of the journal Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience.