HHS HealthBeat (May 15, 2012)

Older people, new experiences

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Learning something new might open other possibilities for older people. Researchers who gave older people training in thinking skills and puzzles to solve report the older people then felt more open to other experiences.

Josh Jackson of Washington University in St. Louis looked at data on people with an average age of 73 who had 16 weeks of training, including figuring out patterns and doing Sudoku and crosswords.

Jackson says the important part was the doing new things:

“It looks like those things are positive. So to the extent that people can get out in the world, try new things, exercise their minds – that’s all for the best.”

The study in the journal Psychology and Aging was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: May 15, 2012