An active social life appears to delay memory loss as we age, a
new study shows. The finding, which appears in the July issue of
The American Journal of Public Health, suggests that strong
social ties, through friends, family and community groups, can
preserve our brain health as we age and that social isolation
may be an important risk factor for cognitive decline in the
elderly. Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health used
data gathered from 1998 to 2004 from the Health and Retirement
Study, a large, nationally representative population of American
adults ages 50 and older. Participants took memory tests at two-
year intervals during the study period. Testers read a list of
10 common nouns to survey respondents, who were then asked to
recall as many words as possible immediately and again after a
five-minute delay. The researchers also measured social
integration based on marital status, volunteer activities, and
contact with parents, children and neighbors. The results showed
that individuals who