Dementia is a deadly neurodegenerative disease, which affects millions of people around the world. It is an incurable condition, but scientists are looking for ways to stop it or at least slow down its progression.
Now researchers at the University of Adelaide have found that people living in households full of people help reduce the risk of dying from dementia.
The risk of death from dementia is lower when people live in larger households. Scientists believe big families to be more natural. Image credit: CEphoto, Uwe Aranas via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Scientists analysed data of people aged over 60 years from more than 180 countries around the world. They took a better look at the variables in living standards and conditions, measuring more global factors, such as the country’s GDP, as well as the size of the household and the immediate living environment.
Researchers wanted to see how living conditions might be linked to dementia prognosis. And they found that people who live in larger households or with family members faced a lower risk of death from dementia. They Could also stave off the progression of the disease for longer.
Scientists found this to be the case even after taking into account other factors like ageing, urbanisation, and GDP. It seems like a large household is crucial for maintaining cognitive capacity in ageing. And researchers might have an explanation why that might be the case.
Maciej Henneberg, one of the authors of the study, said: “We are one of the few species that have adapted over thousands of years to rely on extended family groupings from cooperative breeding, and then evolved alloparental care, until shaped for flourishing in small communities. In the stretch back across that evolution, it has really only been a very short period where we have moved away from that.”
It might be that we as humans are simply not suited for living in small families. For the large portion of human history large families were the norm. Only now we are more interested in maintaining small groups of people.
Large households might be helpful in staving off dementia in several ways. Family members take care of each other and this includes watching out for the health of other people. Such as, checking if members of the family have taken their medicine and are in a good mental space. Furthermore, social engagement exercises brain and positive stimulus from other people stimulates the production of oxytocin. People are even more likely to take a walk once in a while when they don’t have to do it alone.
Scientists suggest using this information to create new guidelines for care homes and other institutions. Maybe it is a good idea to form larger groups of people as long as they can maintain informal, friendly connections instead of institution-like behaviour.
Source: University of Adelaide