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02.08.2024

Working in the garden may protect against dementia

People over 65 who work in their garden daily or almost daily have a quarter less chance of dementia than their peers who never garden. Chinese epidemiologists describe this association in Public Health.

Study
Chinese epidemiologists at Henan University of Chinese Medicine analyzed data from 8,676 Chinese people over 65 who participated in the Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey. Using questionnaires, the epidemiologists had an idea of ​​the amount of work the study participants spent in their gardens.

The researchers followed the study participants for an average of 4 years. They kept track of whether the study participants had dementia. This was the case with 633 study participants.

The epidemiologists tried to find out whether working in the garden protected against dementia. They canceled out the effect of factors such as sex, region, place of residence, education, smoking, alcohol consumption, other forms of physical activity, BMI, and blood pressure.

Results
The study participants who worked in the garden daily or almost daily were 28 percent less likely to develop dementia than study participants who never worked in the garden.

The figure and table below tell us this. Click on it for a larger version.

When the researchers broke down their data, they saw that the protective effect of gardening was greater in the study participants who were over 85 than in the 65-85 group.

The protective effect also seemed to be greater in women than in men.

Conclusion
"The present study provides epidemiological evidence to support public health strategies promoting a higher frequency of leisure-time physical activity (including garden work) as an effective measure to reduce the risk of incident dementia among the older population," the researchers summarize.

Source:
Public Health. 2024 Jul:232:74-81.

More:
After the age of 45 gardening keeps your brain in shape 03.07.2024
How gardening improves brain function 13.05.2022

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Dementia & Alzheimer's

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