Social Integration Delays Aging

A team of scientists from Department of Society, Human Development, and Health at Harvard School of Public Health studied data of 16638 participants aged from 50 and older. They were followed between 1998 and 2004. Participants were estimated for social activity according to marital status, volunteering activity, contacts with family and friends. The conclusion of the research is that the elderly individuals may be able to dlay aging and memory loss if they integrate in their social life.

Seniors were checked for memory status every 2 years by giving them 10 words to read and then, after 5 minutes, asking them to recall as many words as they can. At the beginning of the study all participants had a similar rate for memory. 6 years later those with low social activity scored twice as less in memory test than those with high social activity.

This study is very important, because about 10% of US population aged from 65 suffer from memory loss. Memory loss causes huge difficulties to seniors and seriously affects the quality of life. Social integration seems to be an easy way for delaying memory loss and improving seniors' lives. This is a very important issue, especially with rapidly aging population in US.

There have been other previous studies saying that active social life delays cognitive decline and dementia in older people. This new study comes with an idea that high social integration also delays memory loss, leading to better quality of life for seniors. Further researches will look at types of social integration mostly affecting memory loss and will try to find ways to improve it.

This is probably why we see many healthy aged men and women in churches who regularly attend worship services and are active in the social life of their communities.