每天身心忙碌兩小時可預防癡呆

Just two hours a day spent keeping the mind and body busy is as effective at warding off dementia as drug treatment, research reveals.

Simple activities such as gardening, doing crosswords or sudoku, making snacks and singing helps keep the brain healthy, and even slow the course of dementia in sufferers already diagnosed with the condition.

It confirms longstanding theories that keeping the brain active helps keep it healthy.

Researchers in Bavaria trialled a two-hour therapy session, called MAKS, in nursing homes for six days a week for a year.

Sessions began with a 10-minute “spiritual” introduction, in which the 98 participants discussed topics such as “happiness”， or sang a song or hymn.

They included gentle exercise, such as bowling or croquet, half an hour of solving puzzles in groups and 40 minutes of everyday activities such as preparing a snack, simple gardening work or doing woodwork, as well as uplifting activities such as singing.

The impact was “at least as good as” treatment with cholinesterase inhibitors, typically prescribed to treat dementia, study author Professor Elmar Graessel, from the Friedrich-Alexander University in Erlangen, said.據英國《每日郵報》12月1日報道，一項研究顯示，每天兩小時的身心忙碌能有效避免麻醉藥品引起的癡呆症。

一些簡單的活動，如園藝工作、玩填字遊戲或九宮格遊戲、做小吃以及唱歌能幫助大腦保持健康，甚至能減緩癡呆確診病人的病情惡化。

該研究證實了一個長期理論——讓大腦保持活躍有利於身體健康。

德國巴伐利亞州的研究人員用一年時間在養老院進行了一項名爲MAKS的心理輔導實驗課，課程每週6天，每節課2小時。

課程開始時要進行10分鐘的“心靈”熱身課。有98位聽課者會在這一階段討論如“幸福”一類的話題，或是唱一首歌或讚美詩。

課程內容包括如打保齡球或門球一類的溫和運動，半小時的解謎遊戲和40分鐘的每日活動，如做一道小吃、簡單的園藝工作或木工活。課程還包括一些如唱歌一類的令人振奮的活動。

來自德國埃朗根市弗里德里希-亞歷山大大學的教授艾爾瑪-格蘭賽爾是該項研究的主創者。他說：“該課程的作用至少和膽鹼脂酸抑制劑(一種治療癡呆的典型指定藥物)的治療效果一樣好。”