Education – a Good Therapy for Alzheimer’s?

According to Medical News Today, education may be the “best pill” for Alzheimer’s along with intellectual activity.  This activity increases the “cognitive reserve” in Alzheimer’s patients, according to researchers.

Their findings indicate that ”a mere 5% increase in the ’cognitive reserve’ in the general population would prevent one third of the Alzheimer’s cases.” 

This goes along with the increasingly prevalent idea that keeeping the brain active helps slow down the progression of Alzheimer’s.  I try to relate this to my mother and aunt’s situations.  As near as I can recall, Auntie wasn’t involved in many mind challenging activities.  She did housekeeping and yard work for her brother and his wife.  She only went as far as eighth grade, as did many students in her days.  I also don’t recall her doing a lot of reading other than nightly in her Bible.

My mom had a high school and college education, taught school for several years, was a farm wife, then operated a general store into her 70s.  She was a great reader and did some writing.  Were these mind challenging enough?  Or was her Alzheimer’s stimulated by something else?

Whenever I learn about situations that might cause or prevent Alzheimer’s, I try to relate these to my relatives.  Sometimes they fit the situation and other times they don’t.  It seems that Alzheimer’s remains a puzzling disease; however, much information is being discovered by many researchers.