When Aubrey de Grey's book came out in 2008, Ending Aging, published by D Editore, the English biomedical gerontologist proposed a futuristic, yet still scientific, theory against cell ageing. It was immediately a best-seller, as it essentially introduced a cure against the invertible course of time for the first time. Ageing has remained and remains an inevitable process, and what we can do is adopt daily habits that allow us to keep our mind, and consequently our body, trained. These habits are based on one keystone: lifestyle. In recent years, several studies have shown that intervention in what is referred to as cognitive ageing is possible through practices and exercises that outline a healthy and active lifestyle. We selected five of them.
THE RIGHT DIET
Looking after our minds certainly begins with certain ingredients and products that we need to take in on a regular basis. Copper and zinc, for example, are essential for keeping brain cells and neurotransmitters active. The Veronesi Foundation, which is always at the forefront of research including in the field of Neuroscience, has developed a specific diet to ensure the right nutrition for the brain. It is called the Mind Diet, which stands for Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay, and it is a mixture of the Mediterranean Diet and the DASH Diet. It consists of mentioning ten foods that are particularly useful to the brain and five that would harm it. The first category includes green leafy vegetables, blueberries, olive oil, nuts, fish, whole grains, poultry, pulses and a glass of wine a day; the latter includes butter, margarine, cheese, red meat and pastries. Research findings show this diet could reduce the risk of Alzheimer's by up to 35%.
READING
As one can easily guess, intellectual activities preserve the mind from ageing: reading is one of the best activities. Some research by Cambridge University has tried to examine how reading has an effect on cognitive deterioration, differentiating outcomes by gender and education levels. The research consisted of testing a sample of 1962 elderly people aged 64 years and over, and conducting multiple surveys over a period of 14 years. It emerged that older people with a greater inclination to read achieved better results and were less prone to brain ageing.
PLAYING CARDS, PUZZLES AND MAHJONG
The “mind training” category also includes card games, puzzles, sudoku and Mahjong. Studies have shown that these games, which are based on logic and mental effort, also provide long-term benefits. The first study is part of Protect study from the University of Exeter and King's College London. It considered nearly 20,000 volunteers between the ages of 50 and 90 who stated how frequently they did sudoku and numerical puzzles. It turned out that those who took part in these activities more than once a day had superior cognitive performance than those who did not in 10 out of 14 parameters, including attention, concentration, memory, and the ability to process information. If you don't love sudoku and numbers, don't worry: a piece of research from China reports very similar results in card and Mahjong players.
VIDEO GAMES
One of the most surprising studies concerns the relationship between playing 3D video games, specifically Super Mario 64, and the condition of grey matter in the brain, which is fundamental for cognitive health. The experiment consisted of dividing a group of seniors into three groups: the first group was asked to play Super Mario, the second to follow a self-paced, computer-assisted piano playing course, while the third was not prompted with any activity. At the end of the experiment period, which was about six months, results showed that only the first group had developed a significant increase in grey matter, while in the third group it had even decreased.
FRIENDSHIPS, INCLUDING ON SOCIAL MEDIA NETWORKS
Maintaining good and continuous social relationships positively affects cognitive health. So say several studies from the University of Harvard which show that people who maintain the most relations and friendships are happier and tend to live longer. This is because good relationships reduce the level of stress, a huge enemy of both physical and mental health. Social media networks can help create and maintain friendships, especially inter-generational and distant friendships. One study found that seniors who have social media accounts are happier than their peers who don't.
