BBC Focus - 09.2019

Staying sociable

could help keep

dementia at bay

There are currently around 850,000
people living with dementia in the UK,
with estimates by the Alzheimer’s Society
indicating this could soar to more than two
million by 2051. There is currently no cure,
but maintaining social links throughout
middle age could help to lower the risks of
developing the disease, a study at University
College London suggests.
The team analysed data collected between
1985 and 2013 about people’s frequency
of contact with friends and relatives. They
then checked the electronic health records
of the same people up until 2017 to see if
they’d ever received a dementia diagnosis.
They found that those who saw friends
and relatives almost daily at the age of
60 were around 12 per cent less likely to
develop dementia than someone who only
saw one or two friends every few months.
They found a similar but less strong effect
in the degree of social contact in those aged
50 and 70 and subsequent dementia.
“People who are socially engaged are
exercising cognitive skills such as memory
and language, which may help them to
develop cognitive reserve – while it may not
stop their brains from changing, cognitive
reserve could help people cope better with
the effects of age and delay any symptoms
of dementia,” said Prof Gill Livingston, who
took part in the study. “Spending more time
with friends could also be good for mental
wellbeing, and may correlate with being
physically active, both of which can also
reduce the risk of developing dementia.”

DEMENTIA

1 IN 6

The number of people

over the age of 80 in the

UK who have dementia.

62%

The percentage of

dementia suerers who

have Alzheimer’s,

making it the most

common form of

dementia.

Dementia is one of the

main causes of disability

later in life, ahead of

cancer, cardiovascular

disease and stroke.

UTRAL PRONOUNS

LE BIAS

neutral pronouns instead of

fic ones such as ‘he’ or ‘she’

e equality, research

More than 3,000 people took

rvey in Sweden, where a

tral pronoun (‘hen’) was

15. Participants who were
    ender-neutral pronouns to

describe a cartoon of a non-gendered figure

were subsequently less likely to give a male

name to a second fictional character than

participants who were asked to use

masculine pronouns, suggesting a reduction

in mental bias towards males. The

researchers also found that those who used

gender-neutral pronouns expressed more

positive and tolerant aitudes towards

women and LGBT individuals.