Volunteering may preserve cognitive function

Volunteering may protect the brain against cognitive decline and dementia, according to research reported at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference.

“Volunteering may be important for better cognition in late life and could serve as a simple intervention in all older adults to protect against risk for Alzheimer’s disease and associated dementias,” study author Yi Lor, MPH, an epidemiology doctoral student at the University of California, Davis, said in an AAIC press release.

Lor and colleagues examined volunteering habits among older adults in the Kaiser Healthy Aging and Diverse Live Experiences Study and the Study of Healthy Aging in African Americans. These two studies had a combined total of 2,476 participants, 1,167 of whom reported they had volunteered in the past year.

The researchers examined executive function and verbal episodic memory to determine the association between volunteering and cognitive change over three visits.

Those who volunteered had a higher baseline executive function and verbal episodic memory on average versus those who did not volunteer. While there was no statistically significant association between volunteering and executive function or verbal episodic memory decline, the data suggested that volunteers had slower cognitive decline than those who did not volunteer, the researchers wrote.

“We hope these new data encourage individuals of all ages and backgrounds to engage in local volunteering — not only to benefit their communities, but potentially their own cognitive and brain health,” Donna McCullough, chief mission and field operations officer for the Alzheimer’s Association, said in the press release.

Reference:

• Volunteering in Late Life May Protect the Brain. https://aaic.alz.org/releases_2023/volunteering-late-life-may-protect-brain-dementia.asp. Published July 20, 2023. Accessed July 20, 2023.