Share on PinterestKeeping the brain active throughout life by reading, learning languages is tied to lower Alzheimer’s risk. Image credit: Burak Karademir/Getty Images
- About 32 million people globally are living with Alzheimer’s disease.
- Past studies show that older adults may be able to lower their risk for the condition by making healthy lifestyle choices, such as keeping their brain active.
- A new study has found that people who participate in lifelong learning activities, such as reading, writing, and learning new languages, may lower their risk for Alzheimer’s disease and slow cognitive decline.
Researchers estimate that there are about 32 million people around the world living with Alzheimer’s disease — a type of dementia that negatively impacts a person’s memory and comprehension skills.
Currently, doctors cannot always predict whether or not a person will develop Alzheimer’s disease. However, past studies show that older adults may be able to lower their risk for the condition by making healthy lifestyle choices, such as eating a brain-healthy diet, getting enough exercise, managing stress, and keeping the brain active.
For example, previous research shows participating in certain brain-stimulating activities, like solving puzzles, reading, dancing, gardening, or playing a musical instrument may help slow cognitive decline as a person ages.
Now a new study published in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, has found that people who participate in lifelong learning activities, such as reading, writing, and learning new languages, may lower their risk for Alzheimer’s disease and slow cognitive decline.
Lifelong learning and dementia risk
For this study, researchers recruited almost 2,000 people with an average age of 80 who did not have a dementia diagnosis at the beginning of the study. Participants were asked to complete surveys about the brain-related activities and learning before age 18, at age 40, and around age 80.
Some of the survey questions asked about access to books, newspapers, and magazines, as well as foreign language learning, writing, playing games, and frequency of visits to places of learning like museums and libraries.
“Cognitive impairment is one of the most feared aspects of aging,” Andrea Zammit, PhD, neuropsychologist at the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center and assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Rush University in Chicago, and lead author of this study, told MNT.
“Finding modifiable lifestyle factors that may lower the risk of Alzheimer’s disease dementia and slow cognitive decline is important because these behaviors can become habits or parts of everyday life, offering people practical ways to maintain their cognitive health as they age,” said Zammit.
“Much of the existing research focuses on cognitive engagement in late life, but a love of lifelong learning is often fostered early in life,” she continued. “Activities in older adulthood capture only a snippet of the lifelong experiences that build risk and resilience in the aging brain. I think, when possible, it is essential to study how experiences across the entire life course shape long-term outcomes.”
Lifetime enrichment delays and lowers Alzheimer’s risk
Scientists followed study participants for an average of 8 years. At the study’s conclusion, they found that participants with the highest amount of lifelong learning developed Alzheimer’s disease 5 years later, and developed mild cognitive impairment 7 years later, than those with the lowest amount of lifelong learning.
“These are meaningful differences,” Zammit explained. “A delay of 5 to 7 years can translate into several additional years of independent living, something that many older adults value deeply. Even modest shifts in timing of onset of impairment can have substantial impact at both the individual and population level.”
Additionally, researchers discovered that study participants with higher scores in lifetime enrichment had a 38% lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease, and a 36% lower risk of mild cognitive impairment, when compared to those at the lowest level.
“These findings suggest that sustained cognitive engagement across the life course is meaningfully associated with lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease and mild cognitive impairment,” Zammit said. “The cumulative effects of enrichment over decades may matter more for later-life clinical outcomes than short-term gains.”
“The main takeaway from the results of this study is that cognitive health in old age is shaped by a lifetime of exposure to cognitively enriching experiences,” she added. “While our findings suggest that cognitive enrichment at multiple points in life matter, maintaining lifelong enrichment may be particularly beneficial.”
Studies to test causality more directly needed
MNT had the opportunity to speak with Dung Trinh, MD, internist at MemorialCare Medical Group and Chief Medical Officer of Healthy Brain Clinic in Irvine, CA, about this study.
Trinh, who was not involved in the research, commented that his first reaction to the findings was that it reinforces something he sees clinically: People who stay mentally engaged across their lives often seem to maintain sharper thinking for longer.
“What’s compelling here is the life-course view — enrichment isn’t just taking a class at 75, it includes having access to books and learning resources early on and staying engaged through adulthood. The study doesn’t prove lifelong learning prevents Alzheimer’s, but the size of the association and the idea that onset may be delayed by several years makes it a meaningful signal worth taking seriously.”
– Dung Trinh, MD
“Because Alzheimer’s risk is influenced by many factors, and we don’t have a single cure that works for everyone,” he continued. “Lifestyle and environment are places where people can potentially make real-world changes — often starting long before symptoms appear. Even modest shifts that delay symptoms by a few years can have a huge impact on quality of life for patients and families, and on the health system.”
“Also, lifestyle strategies often come with additional benefits — better cardiovascular health, mood, social connection — so they’re a ‘high upside, low downside’ part of brain health,” Trinh added.
For the next steps of this research, he said there are three things he would like to see.
“First, we need studies that test causality more directly — well-designed interventions that increase access to enriching activities and track cognitive outcomes over time,” he detailed.
“Second, we should unpack which components of enrichment matter most and when — early life, midlife, later life — because that tells us where to invest our time and resources. Third, we need more diverse populations, so we know these findings translate across different communities and socioeconomic backgrounds. If access is part of the protective story, representation really matters,” Trinh concluded.
