Sea Crest Health Care Center

by Nechama Drillick

You’ve been given fair warning – the more socially active you are, the slower you’ll age. Research data in the June 22 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine reveal a direct connection between social activity and physical function.

The study focused on a group of 906 adults who averaged age 66.5 and were free of stroke, Parkinson’s disease, and dementia at the onset.

Everyone’s activity level was scored on a range from 1 to 4.17, with a mean baseline of 2.6.

Participants who volunteered, played bingo, ate out with friends, attended church and partook of other activities with greater frequency had a slower decline in motor function than those who were more socially withdrawn.

“For each point below the mean social activity score at baseline, the average rate or decline in global motor function was 33% more rapid,” they wrote. “In terms of declining motor function, a 1-point decrease on the social activity scale was equivalent to being five years older at baseline.”

And that age difference of five years translated into a 40% increase in the risk of death and more than a 65% increase in the development of a disability.

There you have it. There are significant benefits to being a social butterfly as opposed to a wallflower. Staying socially fit is an essential part of staying young.

By L. Gordon

The nose knows – if you’re developing Parkinsons. If you’re male, anyway.

A study carried out in California on a pool of well over 2,000 men of Japanese descent and over the age of 80 found that those who scored poorly on a sniff test had a higher risk of developing Parkinsons down the line.

The study consisted of 2,264 men approaching 80 years old as of the mid-1990s. They were asked to smell and identify 12 odors: banana, chocolate, cinnamon, gasoline, lemon, onion, paint thinner, pineapple, rose, soap, smoke, and turpentine.

Within the next eight years, 35 of the men developed Parkinsons, and all performed poorly on the sniff test.

But if you’re having difficulty waking up and smelling the coffee, fear not. The study doesn’t provide any data regarding women, nor any explanation for what the correlation between smell and Parkinson’s might be. Nor does it provide any suggestion on how this interesting connection could be used. If stopping to smell the roses is becoming less satisfying, it could be part of normal aging. Then again, it might not be.