导读：美国研究人员发现，洗衣、做饭、打扫卫生等家务活有助降低老年人包括80岁以上人群罹患阿尔茨海默氏症（早老性痴呆）的几率。
家务健脑
拉什大学医疗中心阿伦·布克曼带领研究小组征募716名志愿者，平均年龄82岁。研究人员要求志愿者佩戴一个小型仪器以监控日常活动，还对他们进行认知水平测试，评估记忆力和思维能力。
大约3年后，71名志愿者患上阿尔茨海默氏症。研究人员发现，日常活动最少的志愿者罹患痴呆症的几率是日常活动最多志愿者的两倍多。
英国《每日邮报》4月19日援引布克曼的话报道：“我们的研究结果显示，所有身体活动，包括健身、做饭、洗衣、洗碗、打扫卫生等活动都与阿尔茨海默氏症风险降低存在关联。”
布克曼说，这项结果为鼓励人们参加各种形式的身体活动提供了医学依据，即便是那些无法参与正规锻炼的高龄人群也能从更积极的生活方式中受益。
多动有益
这项研究结果由美国《神经病学》杂志发表。
英国阿尔茨海默氏症协会研究部门负责人安妮·科比特说：“经明确确认，日常身体活动是降低罹患痴呆症风险的有效方式之一，风险最多可降低45%。”
科比特说：“这项研究又增一项证据，显示做饭、打扫卫生等简单活动也可起到作用。”
她说，65岁以上人群中，三分之一死于痴呆症，“但这项研究显示，你可以做一些事情降低风险”。
科比特还建议，保持正常体重，戒烟，采用地中海式饮食，多吃富含抗氧化成分的食物和鱼，“一杯红葡萄酒可能也有帮助”。
结果“靠谱”
慈善机构“英国阿尔茨海默氏症研究所”负责研究的西蒙·里德利博士说，先前一些研究显示，中年时期锻炼有助减少阿尔茨海默氏症罹患风险，“这项研究有所补充，显示诸如做家务、玩纸牌等日常身体活动可能有益老年人”。
里德利认为，布克曼这项研究的有力之处在于借助小型仪器监控身体活动，而非通过自我报告式的调查问卷，后者往往不可靠。
他说：“这项研究突显了身体活动与认知水平下降之间的关联，需要进一步研究，深入挖掘这两者关系。”
Total daily physical activity and the risk of AD and cognitive decline in older adults
A.S. Buchman, MD, P.A. Boyle, PhD, L. Yu, PhD, R.C. Shah, MD, R.S. Wilson, PhD and D.A. Bennett, MD
Objective: Studies examining the link between objective measures of total daily physical activity and incident Alzheimer disease (AD) are lacking. We tested the hypothesis that an objective measure of total daily physical activity predicts incident AD and cognitive decline.
Methods: Total daily exercise and nonexercise physical activity was measured continuously for up to 10 days with actigraphy (Actical® ; Philips Healthcare, Bend, OR) from 716 older individuals without dementia participating in the Rush Memory and Aging Project, a prospective, observational cohort study. All participants underwent structured annual clinical examination including a battery of 19 cognitive tests.
Results: During an average follow-up of about 4 years, 71 subjects developed clinical AD. In a Cox proportional hazards model adjusting for age, sex, and education, total daily physical activity was associated with incident AD (hazard ratio = 0.477; 95% confidence interval 0.273–0.832). The association remained after adjusting for self-report physical, social, and cognitive activities, as well as current level of motor function, depressive symptoms, chronic health conditions, and APOE allele status. In a linear mixed-effect model, the level of total daily physical activity was associated with the rate of global cognitive decline (estimate 0.033, SE 0.012, p = 0.007).
Conclusions: A higher level of total daily physical activity is associated with a reduced risk of AD.
文献链接：https://www.neurology.org/content/early/2012/04/18/WNL.0b013e3182535d35.abstract
