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(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- An active social life and having a handle on stress could decrease your chance of developing dementia.
In a recent study, researchers studied more than 500 older people without dementia to determine their personality traits and lifestyle. Particularly, they looked at levels of neuroticism (being easily distressed) and extraversion (openness to talking to people), as well as their activity level in social activities and the richness of their social network.
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Researchers found a 50 percent lower risk of developing dementia in those patients with an active social life who were calm and relaxed compared to those who are isolated and prone to stress. The same reduction in dementia risk was recorded in patients who were outgoing and calm compared to those who are outgoing but prone to stress.
"Our findings suggest that having a calm and outgoing personality in combination with a socially active lifestyle may decrease the risk of developing dementia even further," study author Hui-Xin Wang, Ph.D., with the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, was quoted as saying.
Researchers say these results are promising because they indicate controllable lifestyle factors may be linked to dementia. However, they caution their data is early and more studies must be done before this association is fully understood.
SOURCE: Neurology, 2009
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