Preserving physical and mental health helps older adults experiencing cognitive impairment stave off declines in cognitive engagement, a new study suggests.
“We found that declines in physical and mental health were associated with more pronounced cognitive disengagement,” says Shevaun Neupert, professor of psychology at North Carolina State University and corresponding author of the study published in
“The impact of declines in physical health was particularly pronounced for study participants who had more advanced cognitive impairment to begin with.”
There’s a lot of research showing that cognitive engagement can help older adults maintain cognitive health. However, the vast majority of that work has been done on healthy adults.