Scientists have found that the Internet can be useful for the elderly

Researchers from New York University have discovered a pattern between the use of the Internet by older people and the development of senile dementia. For eight years, they observed a group of more than 18 thousand people aged 50 to 65. Twice a year, the cognitive abilities of the participants were tested, and scientists also collected statistics on Internet use.

According to the results of the study, 4.7% of the subjects were diagnosed with dementia, but the researchers noted an important detail: the onset of cognitive regression was clearly correlated with the frequency of Internet use by the elderly. Those who regularly used the network were 50% less likely to develop dementia than those who did not practice leisure time with a computer at all.

However, there is a peculiarity here as well — it is about the duration of work on the Internet — optimally from 6 minutes to 2 hours a day. On the contrary, those elderly people who spent more than 6 hours a day on the Internet were at a much higher risk of developing dementia.

Scientists admit that they are not yet able to logically explain this phenomenon. They emphasize that working on the Internet can be very diverse — for example, it can stimulate different parts of the human brain and thus delay their degradation. So, most likely, it’s not the Internet itself, but the content that people consume. The researchers are studying the issue and plan to find an alternative to have a broader impact on the problem.

As a reminder, American scientists have investigated the key event that forever changed the human brain and allowed society to evolve from its closest «relative,» the primate. The whole point was in the properties of human DNA.