Make art for a sharper mind when you're older

Stay creative and have a sharp mind in your later years. Photo: AFP

Participating in arts and crafts activities and maintaining an active social life through old age could delay the onset of cognitive decline that often leads to dementia, according to a new US study.

"Our study supports the idea that engaging the mind may protect neurons, or the building blocks of the brain, from dying, stimulate growth of new neurons, or may help recruit new neurons to maintain cognitive activities in old age," says author Rosebud Roberts, MB, ChB, MS, of Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. and a member of the American Academy of Neurology.