Driving helps prevent cognitive decline

Those of us who drive daily do not realize the complexity of this act. This is because, over time, we drive automatically. But driving requires a range of cognitive skills including executive functions, information processing, visual processing and the memory.

We have to be aware of many stimuli at the same time, keep our foot on the clutch and the brake, change gear, observe the cars that cross us, etc. If it was not for him cerebellum, we would drive like newbies all our lives.

Driving is positive for the cognitive health of the elderly

But of course, all of these cognitive functions deteriorate over time, making driving difficult and dangerous. However, a recent study suggests that the cognitive demands of driving may help prevent cognitive decline caused by aging. In other words, driving could have a beneficial role for the cognitive health of the elderly.

There has always been talk about how important it is for older people to stay active, but it has never been said that driving also brings these benefits. It is clear that people who are unable to drive safely should give up taking the keys and starting the vehicle, but several previous studies had already shown that stopping driving is associated with a decrease in emotional and physical health for people greater. Now also to cognitive decline.

Study data and results

The recent study was carried out by three behavioral scientists, Moon Choi (University of Kentucky) Matthew C. Lohman (University of Kentucky), and Brian Mezuk (Virginia Commonwealth University) and their results showed that driving helps maintain cognitive functions.

"Previous research has indicated that there is a negative association between poor cognitive functioning and stopping driving," Choi and her colleagues explain. "However, our results suggest that cessation of driving may also be a risk factor that accelerates cognitive decline over time. This suggests that the relationship between driving cessation and cognitive functioning could be bidirectional."

Choi and his collaborators analyzed data from more than 9,000 older individuals over 10 years: from 1998 to 2008. Subjects completed a cognitive test over the phone that assessed memory, mental processing speed, level of knowledge, and language. Subjects were also asked what their current driving status was, ie whether or not they were driving or had never driven.

The researchers found that those participants who had stopped driving showed impaired accelerated cognition during the 10 years after stopping driving, compared with drivers assets.

Older people who do not drive are a group at higher risk of cognitive decline

“This study suggests that older people who do not have mobility through driving a vehicle are a group at greater risk of suffering cognitive impairment. Therefore, they would benefit from social interventions that promote social, psychological and cognitive engagement”, argue the researchers,

Regarding this type of intervention, a team of scientists led by psychologist Jerri Edwards (University of South Florida) designed a program focused on cognitive training for seniors who were at risk of car accidents and a decrease cognitive.

The cognitive training program

Edwards and his colleagues recruited about 500 older adults (60 years and older) to participate in the trial. All participants completed a visual processing speed task in which poor performance on this task indicated an increased risk of automobile accidents. The 134 participants who received low scores on this test were assigned to one of two groups. randomized: a cognitive training intervention or a control group in which they received training computing.

Participants in both interventions met with a trainer in small groups for 10 one-hour sessions.. Those in the cognitive training group completed computer exercises designed to improve the speed of information processing, such as visual (cars and trucks) and auditory object identification and location (series of tones). Participants in the computer training group completed training exercises in basic computer use, such as the use of email.

The 366 participants who did not show signs of cognitive slowing on the visual processing speed task served as the reference group.

The follow-up phase

Three years later a follow-up was carried out, and the researchers found that older drivers who had received the cognitive training did drive at a lower risk rate. Instead, participants assigned to the computer training group (or control group) experienced a decreased driving, as well as greater difficulty in carrying it out, as stated in the evaluation later.

Training in the speed of cognitive processing can not only improve cognitive performance, but also may protect decreased mobility in seniors," Edwards and his colleagues write in their article. collaborators. Cognitive training programs, according to science, have the potential to improve the daily lives of older people in many ways”, the authors add.

There are some limitations in the study

Even so, both groups of researchers are cautious with their results and admit that there are limitations. Beyond cognitive or health problems, older people also frequently report financial hardship as one of the reasons they stop driving.

Those who live in the most densely populated areas may have greater access to alternative means of transportation, and therefore they may have different cognitive outcomes than older people who live in more isolated areas or rural.