来源：《今日心理学》
原文刊登日期：2021年12月20日
本文适合2023考生
The number of adults over age 65 increases every year, and with that comes an increase in cases of cognitive decline, dementia, and other age-related disorders. But here’s some encouraging news: Researchers from Canada’s Simon Fraser University and National Institute of Aging found that a combination of multiple day-to-day activities has a significantly stronger effect on memory decline than limiting yourself to just one or two types of daily activities. They also found that the beneficial effects of participating in a variety of different daily activities increase with age, and involvement in multiple activities has more of a positive impact on memory than factors such as family and personal histories, baseline memory at the start of the study, or education level.
65岁以上老人的数量每年都在增加，随之而来的是认知能力下降、痴呆症和其他年龄相关疾病的病例也在增加。但这里有一些令人鼓舞的消息：来自加拿大西蒙·弗雷泽大学和国家老龄化研究所的研究人员发现，多个日常活动的组合对减缓记忆力衰退的效果要比只局限于一两种日常活动的效果好得多。他们还发现，参加各种不同的日常活动的有益效果随着年龄的增长而增加，参与多种活动对记忆的积极影响大于家庭和个人经历、研究开始时的基线记忆或教育水平等因素。
In a study that included more than 3,200 participants, ages 65 to 89, the researchers measured the impact of 33 different activities on memory. These included such hobbies and activities as cooking, playing cards or games, reading, walking, or other exercises, doing word puzzles, sewing or knitting, volunteer work, community work, writing, working with youth praying, gardening or maintenance work, watching television, art classes, spending time on a computer, and socializing. Socializing included making and receiving phone calls, in-person visits and gatherings, and even writing letters or emailing and using social media to stay in touch with family and friends. The results showed that participating in several of these activities every day had more impact on memory over time than participating in any one of them.
在一项包括3200名年龄在65岁到89岁之间的老年人的研究中，研究人员测量了33种不同活动对记忆的影响。这些爱好和活动包括烹饪、打牌或游戏、阅读、散步或其他锻炼、填字游戏、缝纫或编织、志愿工作、社区工作、写作、与青少年一起祈祷、园艺或维修工作、看电视、艺术课、花时间玩电脑和社交。社交包括打电话和接电话，亲自拜访和聚会，甚至写信或发电子邮件，使用社交媒体与家人和朋友保持联系。结果表明，随着时间的推移，每天参加这些活动中的几项比任何一项都对记忆有更大的影响。
This study is somewhat unique in the sense that, rather than look for new interventions, the researchers looked at the natural range of variety in the daily activities of older adults and compared how these variabilities affected memory at various ages over time and in real-life settings. The results add to what we already know about the importance of a healthy diet, routine exercise, and social interaction when it comes to incorporating specific lifestyle measures into the everyday routines of aging adults to prevent or delay symptoms of aging-related physical and mental health conditions.
这项研究的独特之处在于，研究人员并没有寻找新的干预手段，而是着眼于老年人日常活动中的种类范围，并比较了这些种类的活动在不同年龄和现实生活中是如何影响记忆的。当我们将特定的生活方式纳入老年人的日常生活中，以预防或延迟与年龄有关的身体和心理疾病的症状时，研究结果进一步证实了健康饮食、日常锻炼和社会互动的重要性。
In assessing older adults for dementia, researchers find that relevant test scores decline by anywhere from 10 to 35 percent between ages 50 and 85. Preventing dementia and other neurodegenerative disorders is especially important because there are no cures for these conditions, and there are currently very few effective treatments or solutions. Caring for those with such chronic and degenerative conditions creates huge and expensive challenges for both families and health care institutions. Most studies focus on drug treatments for those who already have dementia. It makes more sense on every level to use preventative strategies to help older adults maintain healthy and functional cognition for as long as possible, the researchers point out.
在评估老年人的痴呆症时，研究人员发现，在50岁到85岁之间，相关测试分数会下降10%到35%。预防痴呆和其他神经退行性疾病尤其重要，因为这些疾病没有治愈方法，目前有效的治疗或解决方案也很少。照顾这些患有慢性和退化性疾病的人，对家庭和卫生保健机构都是巨大和昂贵的挑战。大多数研究集中在已经患有痴呆症的人的药物治疗上。研究人员指出，在各个层面上，使用预防策略来帮助老年人尽可能长时间地保持健康和功能性认知更有意义。