An interesting conclusion?
You may be aware that gardening is something that makes plenty of people happy. However, new research has drawn a very interesting conclusion: if you are into gardening, it can improve your thinking skills at an older age.
A recent study took place examining the lifestyle of more than 100 older adults. It found that those who spent their time gardening as a hobby or for entertainment had better cognitive function compared to those who did not engage in gardening. This research is quite eye-opening and has implications for all generations.
Related to gardening
Best thing about this particular research is that it has also contributed to understanding how the time spent in childhood education, cognitive abilities, physical activities, and socioeconomic status in older age are somehow related to gardening and other activities.
Studies have also highlighted that Assignment help UK and people who are fond of gardening activities may show better cognitive abilities and cognitive benefits compared to those who do not engage in this kind of activity. These individuals are mostly older.
Researchers followed participants
Studying is one of the great ways to understand people in the long term. In this study, researchers followed participants throughout their lifetime. These individuals were born in the Eden work area and were part of an intelligence test when they were 11 years old. Later, at the age of 79, 100 participants sat for the same examination, which included dissertation writing help UK and questions related to numerical analysis, spatial abilities, and verbal reasoning.
Answer questions related to their lifestyle
Research also focused on a long-time study, and all the subjects of the research participated in multiple frequent assessments of thinking skills from entering this research group to the age of 19. They frequently had to answer questions related to their lifestyle as well, and they had to provide all the details related to their socioeconomic status, education, childhood cognitive abilities, health, and much more about their lives.
Not staying sharp ?
Let’s start by defining a few terms so that we can better approach this question. First, let’s understand why staying sharp may be really important in later ages, especially as you get older and past your prime. What could be the negative effects of not staying sharp in your later or older years?
Experience mental decline?
As we have already discussed the physical aspects of decline when age starts to increase. Moreover, plagiarism free dissertation writing help and regarding dementia, as we have already discussed, the brain is like the rest of the body. As we decline physically, we also experience mental decline. We become more forgetful as we age, and it may take longer to think of words or recall people’s names. Our cognitive abilities may decrease.
May decrease as you get older. We already know that; we have already discussed that. Now let’s focus on how gardening and other activities can help us stay sharp mentally and physically.
Slip-ups when middle age
Let’s discuss the science behind staying sharp as we age. Many people experience minor mental slip-ups when middle age arrives. They may forget some things or have trouble recalling stuff they remembered before. These are harmless occurrences. However, according to a study, 1 in 9 adults aged 45 or older have occasional confusion or memory loss. So, for every person older than 45, there is a one in nine chance that they will suffer from occasional confusion or memory loss.
Protect ourselves
Which can be quite hard to manage, especially as these ages are not that old, and you may still be working with people or managing your family. So, how can we protect ourselves against these more serious cognitive issues later in life?
Body with peak performance.
Healthy brain, we can stay healthy physically by performing physical tasks. The same rule applies to our mental tasks, which can help us keep our memory and cognitive abilities at peak. A few things other than gardening you can do to keep yourself physically Exercise, physical exercise, keeps you at a good, healthy body with peak performance. It has also been shown to be quite helpful for your mind; it improves blood flow and communication between different parts of the brain, not only helping you with physical aspects but also mental health. Sleep can be quite helpful for keeping your brain and mental health at a good level.
Person’s socioeconomic status
Now that we have understood the main parts of how we can keep our bodies and minds healthy with exercise and other things, let’s discuss how gardening can do both for us.
Basically, a study done on older adults who have spent time gardening showed better cognitive functions in later life.
This was also true regardless of the person’s socioeconomic status, time spent in education, or childhood cognitive abilities. So, in the simplest way, a person’s whole entire being does not matter as long as they had or will be doing gardening. They will show better cognitive function in later life than those who did not. Research the long-term study made.
Participants throughout their lifetime
This finding, obtained through a long-term study, followed people from Edinburgh. The study was conducted at Edinburgh University, and it tracked participants throughout their lifetime. It followed individuals from age 11, and they had around 100 participants take the same exam at age 11 and later at 79. These tests included verbal reasoning, special abilities, numerical analysis, and more. In this long-term study, participants also provided information about how they have lived.
Regularly gardened.
Lives, any other different assessments of their thinking ability up to the age of 90. Out of a total of 467 people, almost 31% had never gardened, but the rest (43%) regularly gardened. On average, the 280 people who frequently or sometimes garden showed greater cognitive improvement than those who did not. This was also excluding people with different backgrounds, social economic status, etcetera, etcetera. This research proves that doing has a good effect on your mental health, and at least your cognitive abilities. It keeps you sharp-minded.