A new study found that long-term pet companions can delay memory loss and other types of decline cognitive skills. Preliminary research showed that pet owners were particularly beneficial to the work of memory in the following words.
And it's not just cats and dogs that can boost your brain. Research participants also cared for rabbits, hamsters, birds, fish and reptiles.
Old people are have a hard time for memory loss
The researchers used data from a large study of Medicare recipients on health and retirement. In this study, participants underwent several cognitive tests. Researchers used these cognitive tests to create a composite cognitive score for each person in the range of 0 to 27.
The composite score included a general subtraction test, a numeric count, and word recall. The researchers then used the participants' combined cognitive scores and the estimated association between pet owner age and cognitive function.
According to ScienceDaily, this study examined cognitive data from 1,369 older people with an average age of 65 years who had normal cognitive abilities at the start of the study. Overall, it is defined that 53% own pets, 32% have been pet owners for many years, and have had pets for more than 5 years. Of the study participants, 88% were white, 7% were black, 2% were Hispanic, and 3% were other ethnic groups or races.
Read more: 5 Reasons Pets are Important to Us
Pets do really help decrease cognitive decline
The possession of pets for more than 5 years provided the greatest benefit compared to the rate of decline in non-pet owners, delaying cognitive decline by 1.2 points over a 6-year study period, said by a Clinical Neuroimmunologist, Tiffany Braley. She is also an associate professor of neurology at the University of Michigan.
The result will presented at the 74th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in April. She also added that the results provide early evidence that long-term pet owners may prevent cognitive decline.
Keeping one or more pets is a combination of many of the core components of a healthy lifestyle in the brain, said by Richard Isaacson, director of the Alzheimer's Prevention Clinic at the Brain Health Center at Florida Atlantic University's Schmidt Medical College.
Cognitive involvement, socialization, physical activity, and what is meaningful may address important correctable risk factors for cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease, either separately or in combination.
Those with cognitive decline at the beginning of the study were excluded from the analysis. In the final sample, over 53% had pets. Pet owners tend to have a high socio-economic status, which may also explain the benefits. According to experts, people with high incomes are more likely to see a doctor for health care, as per CNN Health.
The brain boost associated with keeping pets for more than five years was more pronounced in black adults, college degree adults, and men. The study said.
However, Braley warned that the clinical significance cannot be attributed to the specific cognitive values provided by HRS, at least not in specific clinical trials or methods that date back to prognosis.
She also said that more research is needed to further investigate why keeping pets can help protect the brain.
Related article: Dogs are More Than Just Pets - Here's the Proof
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