A new study suggests that having a fully-packed schedule can be beneficial to your cognitive functions later in life. While earlier study recommended engaging in mentally challenging activities, keeping busy also reap similar benefits.
Busy over-50s have better cognitive function, study shows https://t.co/ni6eXseNfx
— PsyPost.org (@PsyPost) May 20, 2016
Being Busy And Your Cognitive Functions
You may want to re-think your retirement plans after learning the benefits of being occupied with work. While your tight schedule can be a source of frustration, a new study suggests a "healthy" busy can benefit your mental health, Medical Daily reported. The study, published in the journal "Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience" on May 17, found adults who had a packed daily schedule performed better in cognitive functions compared to their less busy counterparts.
"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 in a statement., She's the lead author of the study and a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Vital Longevity of the University of Texas at Dallas.
The Findings Of The Study
For the study, the researchers surveyed more than 300 people, who participated in the Dallas Lifespan Brain Study, CNN reported. Those adults over the age of 50, who's schedule are packed, were found to perform better in terms of brain processing, memory, reasoning and vocabulary.
The positive effect of being busy on cognitive functions are uniform across all participants aged 50 to 89. With the findings, the study authors recommended that being occupied with a busy lifestyle is paramount in terms of cognitive functions later in life.
More so, keeping a tight schedule is also linked with better episodic memory, which is the ability to remember specific places, events and emotions felt during that moment HNGN reported. However, despite the findings, the study authors admit that not enough is known to conclude that keeping busy is linked to better cognitive skills in older adults.
"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. There's still the possibility that those with better cognitive function may just be inclined to live a busier lifestyle.
However, the study authors are intrigued with the possibility that busy people have more learning opportunities. Learning has been known to stimulate cognitive functions according to research. Do you agree with the findings? Hit us with your comments. Meanwhile, check out these exercised that can boost cognitive functions:
