Education 'helps brain compensate for dementia changes' (BBC)

By Caroline Parkinson

Health reporter, BBC News

People who stay in education for longer appear to be better able to compensate for the effects of dementia on the brain, a study suggests.

A UK and Finnish team found those with more education were as likely to show the signs of dementia in their brains at death as those with less.

But they were less likely to have displayed symptoms during their lifetime, the study in Brain said.

Experts said scientists now had to find out why the effect occurred.

Over the past decade, studies on dementia have consistently shown that the more time you spend in education, the lower the risk of dementia.
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more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-10741274




This explains SOOOOOO much about Repubs ...

Does having a brain less prone to dementia predispose you to obtain higher education, or is higher education brain excercise that postpones dementia?

the diseased parts of the brain.

to keep the Id under control....

over the past decade or so that reinforce this.

Getting educated, and keeping your mind active and working isn't a total guarantee, but it seems to help a lot.

although physically she's slowed down a little, mentally she's sharp as a tack. She gets upset when the weather forces her to stay indoors with nothing to do.
At the retirement community where she was she complained that all those people just want to sit there and stare at the TV. They didn't even want to talk. Drove her nuts. She now lives at one where she has her own little cottage so she can putter around in the yard and she volunteers at the local historical center translating old documents. That part of Indiana was settled by Germans so a lot of the documents are written not only in German but the old Gothic German script. She says that's the only good thing that she got out of the Nazis taking over Austria in 1938-Hitler decided that they wouldn't use the Latinized German writing but the old style German. So even most peoploe that can read and write German today can't read the old script.

Her father(my grandfather) was well into his 90's before exhibiting signs of dementia. She has an uncle who is about 108 and his mind is still sharp.

And good for her for the volunteering.