Bruce Frankel
Available March 4, 2010 Pre-Order Now
Why More Education Leads To Fewer Signs of Dementia In The Elderly
July 27, 2010
After more than a decade of puzzling over why people who continue their educations longer have a lower risk of developing dementia, researchers have come up with an answer.
Do the brains of the more educated resist disease better?
Nope. The answer is that people with more education cope better with changes in the brain associated with dementia, say researchers in England and Finland.
Researchers, by examining the brains of 872 people who took part in three large aging studies, had concluded previously that each additional year of education results in an 11% decrease in the risk of developing dementia.
But they had, until now, been unable to say definitively whether or not education—which is linked to higher socioeconomic status and healthier lifestyles—protects the brain against dementia.
The new study, led by Professor Carol Brayne, an epidemiologist and public health physician at the University of Cambridge, shows people with different levels of education, in fact, have similar brain pathology. That is, disease that causes dementia was as prevalent the brains of people who had extensive educations as those who did not. The difference, say the researchers, is that those with more education are better able to compensate for the effects of dementia.
Praise for What Should I Do with the Rest of My Life?
“Bruce Frankel’s upbeat, inspiring, timely book shows how taking a risk and fighting to find a passionate career — at any age — can reinvigorate your life...”
— Susan Shapiro, author of Speed Shrinking and Only As Good as Your Word
