Scientists: marriage and close friends protect against dementia
Communication can reduce the risk of developing dementia, scientists have found. A substantial role is played not by the number of friends and degree of closeness with them.
Marriage and close friends may protect against dementia, say researchers at Loughborough University.
The study, whose results were published in the edition of Journals of Gerontology (“Journal of gerontology”), lasted almost seven years, there were 6 677 people.
None of the participants initially did not suffer dementia, but in the course of the study, this diagnosis was 220 patients.
The scientists compared the data of those who had identified dementia and those who were not exposed to it, to understand how social connections influence the risk of disease.
One of the discoveries was the fact that it is important to “quality”, not quantity of friends.
“You can surround a large number of different people, but only a close relationship can reduce the risk of developing dementia… It’s not related to the number of friends,” explains Professor of If Hogervorst.