i wish they 'd suggest "programming" instead of puzzle solving. i mean, it's a form of puzzle solving, but it s also useful in real life.
Programming is only the cure to all problems in "our world"
Puzzle-solving 'doesn't slow down mental decline in older people'
21–30 of 111 posts
Re: Puzzle-solving 'doesn't slow down mental decline in older people'
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
I hadn’t heard that body fat composition affected Alzheimer’s risk. Out of curiosity, do you have a reference?
Body fat is a risk for multiple disease. The general idea is that whenever viruses enter the adipose tissue they are hard to reach by the immune system. We dont really understand yet what causes Alzheimer but now there is suspicion of a viral link.
There is another hypothesis making the rounds that obesity is linked to chronic metabolic stress and eventual damage (so far uncontroversial), which is linked to many separate diseases.
Re: Puzzle-solving 'doesn't slow down mental decline in older people'
#23i wish they 'd suggest "programming" instead of puzzle solving. i mean, it's a form of puzzle solving, but it s also useful in real life.
"Doesn't slow down mental decline"... They're not suggesting anything. They are summarizing the conclusion of the study which determined that intellectual engagement may not offset age related cognitive decline.
> But the study does seem to show that life-long intellectual engagement and problem-solving is linked to higher mental functioning, so it's not the case that giving your brain a workout is a waste of time, especially if you find those activities enjoyable and fulfilling.
i did read it
Re: Puzzle-solving 'doesn't slow down mental decline in older people'
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Doesn't slow down mental decline"... They're not suggesting anything. They are summarizing the conclusion of the study which determined that intellectual engagement may not offset age related cognitive decline.
> Did you even read the article? Please edit such swipes or nasty tropes out of your comments here. This is in the site guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html . We're trying for a bit better than internet median in HN discussions.
Done. I wouldn't go as far as calling it a "swipe or nasty trope". The guideline just says to avoid this type of insinuations.
Re: Puzzle-solving 'doesn't slow down mental decline in older people'
#25But exercise does: https://www.news-medical.net/news/20160324/Exercise-slows-do...
There were some research results a few years ago that indicated that dancing does that very well (and particularly the role of follower in partner dancing, because you have to react quickly to small cues). Don't have a link ready, sorry. I'd be curious if that has been reproduced yet.
Exercise is most effective in slowing mental decline when done consistently. I'd wager that's why dancing is so efficacious -- you're mixing vigorous exercise with fun, and folks are more likely to consistently exercise when it's fun.
Re: Puzzle-solving 'doesn't slow down mental decline in older people'
#26But exercise does: https://www.news-medical.net/news/20160324/Exercise-slows-do...
In this study, they detect a correlation between exercise and mental ability, but it is not clear which one is the cause and which one is the effect. Perhaps people with very advanced mental decline can't follow any class of exercise.
>> Our results suggest that moderate to intense exercise may help older people delay aging of the brain, but more research from randomized clinical trials comparing exercise programs to more sedentary activity is needed to confirm these results.
Re: Puzzle-solving 'doesn't slow down mental decline in older people'
#27This is a fascinating share, if not for the results—"None of the measures of intellectual engagement was linked to the speed of decline of people's mental abilities over time"—but for the study itself. "Many people also dropped out of the study. Only 96 of the 498 people recruited took part in the last round of testing. The researchers lost touch with 13 people, while 57 people died and 332 declined to take part." Do…
Wow, a rate of drop-out like that would certainly make me doubtful of the results of the study. It seems reasonably likely that people dropped-out in a fashion that would be weighted in one way or another.
for sure.. but I expect the real results to be worse (though this is purely speculative on my part), as I can only imagine people with steeper intellectual decline being more likely to drop out
Re: Puzzle-solving 'doesn't slow down mental decline in older people'
#28This is a fascinating share, if not for the results—"None of the measures of intellectual engagement was linked to the speed of decline of people's mental abilities over time"—but for the study itself. "Many people also dropped out of the study. Only 96 of the 498 people recruited took part in the last round of testing. The researchers lost touch with 13 people, while 57 people died and 332 declined to take part." Do…
This is a cohort study conducted over 15 years. You can't really criticize it only based on those numbers, at least not without looking at similar numbers from other cohort studies with the same length.
I tend to ascribe some value to "It was published in the peer-reviewed British Medical Journal."
Additional thought: Especially because it is essentially supporting the null hypothesis.
Re: Puzzle-solving 'doesn't slow down mental decline in older people'
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wow, a rate of drop-out like that would certainly make me doubtful of the results of the study. It seems reasonably likely that people dropped-out in a fashion that would be weighted in one way or another.
for sure.. but I expect the real results to be worse (though this is purely speculative on my part), as I can only imagine people with steeper intellectual decline being more likely to drop out
Its mentioned in the paper: "However, recruitment to and
retention in cognitive ageing studies is also affected
by self selection to volunteer among better educated
individuals who are ageing well, which is also true of
our study. Thus, the findings might be biased towards
those individuals with higher cognitive performance."
Re: Puzzle-solving 'doesn't slow down mental decline in older people'
#30Seems to me that even if it didn't slow down the "rate" of mental decline, starting from a higher point because of "brain training" for want of a better term would still be good, no?