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03.07.2024

After the age of 45 gardening keeps your brain in shape

People over 45 protect their cognitive abilities if they have a garden in which they grow flowers, vegetables or fruits. Gardening is good for your memory.

Study
Chinese epidemiologists at Fudan University analyzed data from 136,748 American people over 45. That data were collected by telephone interviews in the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System 2019 survey. The study participants had answered questions about their lifestyle. This gave the researchers, among other things, an idea of ​​their amount of exercise.

The researchers knew whether the study participants spent a significant amount of time gardening.

The study participants also reported whether their memory had deteriorated over the past year. If that were the case, then, according to the researchers, there was subjective cognitive decline [SCD].

If the study participants also reported that they suffered from the deterioration of their memory during their work or everyday activities such as cooking and cleaning, then there were SCD-related functional limitations.

Results
Both gardening [gardeners] and a lifestyle with a lot of exercise [other exercisers] reduced the risk of memory deterioration by 28-30 percent. Both gardening and exercise reduced the risk of SCD-related functional limitations by 43-42 percent.

When the researchers tried to find out exactly how gardening protects the brain using statistical techniques, they were able to calculate that the increased calorie consumption through gardening [say: exercise] caused 39 percent of that protection.

The antidepressant effect of gardening accounted for 22 percent of the protection. [Table]

Source:
Nutr J. 2024 Jun 4;23(1):59.

More:
How gardening improves brain function 13.05.2022

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