What new skill(s) can I learn at an older age to help stave off dementia?

[MoonDanceDiner]

My dear mum has advanced Alzheimer's disease. I have helped care for her for the last 5 years and watching this decline in my once vibrant and brightly spirited mum has left me terrified of this awful illness.

I know a lot of it is luck but time and time again I am reading the importance of learning new skills all the way through life to help stave off cognitive decline.

I am 52 and was diagnosed with inattentive adhd this year so I do have a short attention span. Annoyingly I bore of things very easily but I am determined to try new things.

What can I try that is easy to learn but somehow challenging enough to keep my brain active and building up some cognitive reserve for the future?

I am crap with numbers and hate maths but love arts and crafts, nature, history and geography. I love music with a passion and would have loved to have been able to play a musical instrument but I feel that ship has sailed and you really need to be naturally musically gifted like my FIL, he has never once had a lesson yet can play the piano and any keyboard with ease. I have always wanted to play the Ukulele.

I would have also liked to have been able to have spoken a different language but maybe that is a little bit challenging?

Crochet and embroidery is something I also love but again not sure if that is something I can simply pick up at in my 50's?

Oh, I also need to be able to do these things on the cheap as money is tight.

No one has had it in my family either which is why it completely blindsided us when mum was diagnosed. She has always been very bright.

I wonder if stress plays a big part? If it is I am buggered.

I think vascular issues play a big part, didn't Margaret Thatcher suffer a stroke? The biggest risk factors seem to be metabolic disease in midlife (insulin resistance, chronic inflamation, high blood pressure, diabetes etc).

You could try this self learning course https://mooc.utas.edu.au/course/20296

They also do an understanding dementia course. I did that 1st so just could help my dad they did the preventing one to learn about prevention.

Thank you for all of your suggestions, I have made a list of them all and will endeavour to try as many as I can.

I do as much as I can to stay physically well - I exercise, eat well, have always stayed slim, I have hardly ever drunk alcohol and have never smoked. I try to sleep well every night (Mum had insomnia for decades which I feel contributed to her dementia), practise yoga and calming techniques. I have low cholesterol and am at low risk of diabetes. I don't think there is much more I can do in that sense so I will concentrate on my brain health from now on.

How about an evening class? There's a lot of older women in my woodwork class.

My grandmother had Alzheimer's - she was really healthy and active until it got her, was shocking to see the change, and now my aunty has been diagnosed. Horrid horrid disease. Another aunty told me she had heard on the radio that cold water immersion is supposed to have a protective effect against dementia, perhaps take up cold water swimming? Or just have cold showers (I do every day, started when electricity prices were too insane to justify using hot water unless washing hair and now I'm used to it I find them really comfortable and refreshing)

Oooh, I would love to try a woodworking class, I will see if there is anything in my area.

I follow the Wilm Hof method, I practise his breathing techniques and cold showers (takes a bit of getting used to).

It really is a horrid disease and sadly most people have zero idea just how awful it is until it knocks on your door. No experience of it in mine or my DH's family so it has been a huge learning curve for us.

Bridge

I’m the same age as you OP and I took up Bridge last year. Loads of people in their late 80’s in my bridge club who’ve been playing 30 years, all sharp as a tack and much better than me.

Crucially they’re not just better than me because they’ve been playing longer but because they pick up and integrate learning as well as or better than me. Ours is a teaching club so we actually learn something new every week.

Being able to continually learn in your 80’s is an amazing thing.

Look at impact of exercise both weight training and cardio. Also HRT.

Safe, regular exercise is the best way.
Nothing you do that is “brainy” will stave it off.

Main things causing dementia/alzheimers are genetics, head injury or injuries, and/or poor cardiovascular health.

You mean avoiding HRT? It is associated with no change to risk to increased risk of dementia /alzheimers

Totally agree. Dh is learning the piano and is a lot older than you @MoonDanceDiner .

I am also part of the I Hate Maths brigade, but I found a liking for sudoku (it only requires numbers up to 9, and it's all about patterns) and I'm keen on knitting.

Ditch the mindset of being unable to learn a musical instrument at an older age. My piano teacher teaches a lot of adults, and quite a lot of them do singing lessons, too! You can also learn to read music, too.

Languages are interesting, and you can do online classes for almost any language, or in-person ones if you can find a class near you.

If you live in an arty area, or near a college, you might find classes in ceramics, carpentry, or whatever area you're interested in. Agricultural colleges might offer evening classes in smallholding, or more outdoor things, if you're into that.

I'd like to throw a dance/sports class into the mix, just for strength and flexibility, in the hope that I'm better off health-wise when I'm old.

My mum exercised all the time and for many years but sadly still succumbed to the disease.

If music is what you love do that. You will improve even if you will never play at the RAH. Just find an instrument you like.

I taught myself guitar as an adult. I suck, but I get pleasure singing to myself whilst strumming chords.

Yes, see the top 2 causes I listed- genetics and head injury/injuries.

Learning to read music and playing very simple keyboard tunes doesn't require you to be musical, it's more about logic, counting etc. A keyboard, even to start either on a tablet, is the best way to visualise the pattern of the notes. You can buy a beginners piano book which will introduce the basics.
I'm in a choir, not very good at singing really, but I find it much easier if zi can follow the sheet music, even if it's just to notice when the tenors are supposed to come in so I know to come in after that, for example. Or that the notes are going higher and lower which is a guide to memory.

I agree with that regards MIL. She did a lot of things mentally - crosswords, puzzles, jigsaws, played the piano, reading, quizzes, etc., and had brilliant general knowledge etc. But she became lazy and wouldn't do anything physical as she "didn't see the point" of going for a walk etc., so basically just sat around the house all day other than housework and a bit of light gardening. We saw rapid decline over Covid when she had to start having groceries delivered instead of going to the corner shop every couple of days. The decline was very fast and very obvious but there was no telling her she needed to stay active and exercise - she'd agree but then she'd forget the reason why and wouldn't do anything. So I'd see it's staying mentally active AND physically active.

I haven't read the full thread but just wanted to say if you love music or languages you should absolutely do those. There is absolutely no way you have to be musically gifted to play an instrument. Sure, it helps, but most people who play an instrument are not. It's just the result of consistent effort. Also, as far as I understand, the key thing in keeping your brain healthy is in challenging it with new things, rather than necessarily becoming a brilliant musician.

I’m planning something cognitive (eg language, do a maths a level); something hand-eye coordination (I’m learning the piano); something gross motor (eg yoga).

You’re still young! I’m in my mid 60s and learning new things. There’s very little you’re too old for. And have more faith in your own abilities- stop saying that ship has sailed, you need natural talent, languages are too challenging. Plenty of people far older than you are doing these things. Maybe you won’t pick things up as quickly as an 18 year old, but that doesn’t matter.
Learn the ukulele and choose a language to learn at your own pace. Dip your toes in the water- you don’t have to go all out and do a degree!

Interesting @Cinaferna. I hadn’t heard that before but it makes sense. My DF was once a keen walker but a few years before his Alzheimer’s diagnosis, his gait became slower and more laboured as his legs weakened.

Hopefully you can find a class, good physical work needing an eye for detail so brain and movement.

Wilm Hof method should be helpful then, and as you're already used to cold showers then I definitely recommend taking up cold water swimming for exercise.

It must have been so difficult to witness it happening to your mum. Hopefully, as its not otherwise in your families, that its a one off rather than a genetic predisposition.

I'd also make sure you have your blood pressure checked regularly - I'm on proprananol for mine and had suffered with increasingly bad anxiety for several years before realising it was linked to hypertension. I really do think my ability (and care/desire to) remember things began with anxiety issues. Pp said their relative couldn't see the point in exercise, which I think is similar to how I feel when I struggle to remember things, the care isn't there any more to rummage through the filofax to find a memory because I don't want to get anxious about it. It's a weird thing to note the lack of but I can also attest that it's hard to want to walk or exercise with hypertension because you feel wobbly/weak and breathless as if you've already done a 3 mile walk. So maybe there's a lack of desire for feeling anxious and worn out due to these working in tandem? Then if you don't exercise or challenge yourself to keep an even keel, you lose those "branches" of the brain. Just an idea and possibly just a causal risk factor.

My MIL died at 89 sharp as a pin. She walked every morning. Played golf into her eighties in the morning. In the afternoon you never saw her without her library books. She watched every quiz show going on the TV in the evening. Played bridge all her life.

My mother 90 this year again Sharp mentally. Did yoga until the last few years. Reads books. Loves her classical music vinyl or CDs. She's immobile physically now after nasty hip break. But still has all her wits.

So I read, do crosswords, do all the tax stuff for DH. I'm waiting for double hip surgery so my mobility has gone out of the window.

Was checked yesterday for mine. I'm now on pills because it's so high. I agree about the anxiety feeling being connected.

I've been waiting for double hip surgery, am on sticks. So unfit