Lowering the Risk of Alzheimer’s?

Spend the right amount of time with kids…

In somewhat bizarre sounding news, it’s now believed that a grandchild a day keeps Alzheimer’s at bay. Yes, you read that right. Parents who recruit their own parents to babysit their kids are doing them a huge favour: grandparents who mind their tots once per week are less likely, according to a new study, to develop dementia.

Certainly, it’s no stretch of the imagination to consider that spending time with young kids will keep your mind sharp (and your need for sleep in tact). This new study, published in the journal of the North American Menopause Society, found that post-menopausal women (unfortunately this study focuses on women only) who take care of their grandkids have a lowered risk of developing such degenerative cognitive disorders.

What’s important to note, however, is that they shouldn’t spend too much time with the kids, otherwise an adverse effect can occur (such as the headache endured by the grandpa in Up above). It’s probably fair to say that the same goes for the actual parents too, but when they’re your own kids, you’ve got to just love Every. Waking. Minute. with them, right? (*bangs head against wall).

According to CBS News, researchers for the Women’s Health Aging Project in Australia administered three different tests to investigate the cognitive abilities of 186 women, aging between 57 and 68. Among this sample size, 120 of them were grandmothers. Those who spend at least one day per week with their grandkids scored highest on the cognitive tests. Those who spent five or more days, however, ranked considerably lower.

In relation to the second finding, researchers gathered that grandmothers who were called upon to help a lot of the time had imbalances in their mood, which would thus impact their brain function.

In short, get your kids and your parents together, but then separate them again after a few hours. Small doses work a treat!

@CarolineForan