忙碌的大脑是健康的大脑(A Busy Brain Is a Heathly Brain)_生物论文

　　在空闲时间里你干什么，这可能影响到你发生Alzheimer病的几率。一项新的研究表明：在中年时，有刺激智力业余爱好的人，很少会发生崩溃性的混乱。

　　以前的研究就表明：从事脑力劳动的人，对Alzheimer病有一定的抵抗力。例如，受过高等教育以及那些有高层次职业的人士很少得此病。但有一点仍然不是很清楚，为什么这些人很少得病。他们是受益于更多的脑力活动还是其他相关的优势，比如较高的社会经济地位。为了避免这些因素的感染，美国Western Reserve大学的神经学家Robert Friedland和他的同事们并把眼光投向了那些人的业余升后，看看他们的业余时间都在干些什么。他们认为：空闲时间的活动应该与一个人的社会经济低温没有什么关系。

　　他们调查了193个Altheimer的病人和358个健康的志愿者，调查他们在20－60岁之间的娱乐活动。Altheimer病人的调查问卷一般由病人的配偶或者病人的直系亲属来替代填写。调查结果发现26种不同的情况，共分为3组：一组是体力活动；一组是被动的娱乐活动，比如看电视；另一组是脑力活动，这包括读书、参与游戏、对房子的修理等等。健康组的人参与地各项活动要比患病的人多得多，而且他们参与活动的时间平均每个月多于12个小时。而病人参与最多的活动就是看电视。

　　芝加哥Alzheimer病研究中心的一位神经学家David Bennett说：中年时缺乏脑力活动是alzheimer病的早期指示器。但他认为使用你的头脑或者让它保持忙碌，有助于抵抗Alzheiner病的发生。未来的战役就是鼓励人们关掉电视机，开动他们自己的大脑。

原文： 　　What you do in yourspare time may influence your risk of developing Alzheimer‘s disease. A newstudy suggests that people who participate in intellectually stimulatinghobbies during midlife are less likely to develop the devastating disorder.

　　Previousresearch has hinted that brainy individuals may have some protection againstAlzheimer’s. For example, people with more education and advanced careers areless prone to get it. But it was not clear from these studies if the benefitcomes from more mental activity per se or from related advantages, such as ahigher socioeconomic status. To avoid some of these complications, neurologistRobert Friedland and colleagues at Case Western Reserve University in Clevelandturned their attention to what people do in their free time. Leisure activities,they reasoned, should provide a measure of overall activity that is lessdependent of socioeconomic factors.

　　Theresearchers surveyed 193 Alzheimer‘s patients and 358 healthy volunteers abouttheir recreational activities between the ages of 20 and 60. Questionnaires forAlzheimer’s patients were filled out by a surrogate--typically the patient‘sspouse or another close relative. The survey included 26 different activitiesdivided into three groups: physical activities; passive pastimes like watchingTV; and intellectual activities, which ranged from reading and playing games todoing repairs around the house. People in the healthy control groupparticipated in more activities in all categories than Alzheimer’s patientsdid, the team reports in the March 13 issue of the Proceedings of theNational Academy of Sciences. They also spent more time engaged inintellectual activities--about 12 more hours a month, on average. The onlyactivity that Alzheimer‘s patients had engaged more in was watching TV,Friedland says.

　　Oneexplanation is that inactivity in midlife is an early indicator of Alzheimer’sdisease, says neurologist David Bennett, director of the Rush Alzheimer‘sDisease Center in Chicago. But he tends to believe that using your mind andkeeping busy may protect against Alzheimer’s disease and other types ofcognitive decline. "If it‘s true, it would have just tremendous publichealth and public policy implications," Bennett says. Future campaigns, hesays, might encourage people to turn off the TV and turn on their brains.

摘自：Sciencemag