CAN CURIOSITY PREVENT ALZHEIMER’S? WHAT THE RESEARCH SHOWS, AND LESSONS FROM A GRANDMOTHER

This is the 63rd instalment in a series on dementia, including the research into its causes and treatment, advice for carers, and stories of hope.

My grandmother, who died in her eighties, struggled with a number of significant handicaps.

She had macular degeneration - an eye disease - and was almost totally blind at the end of her life; she could not read or watch television.

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Her mobility was compromised as a result of bad knees, one of which resulted from poor knee surgery. She relied on a walking frame inside the house, and a wheelchair and someone to push her in it outside.

Despite these difficulties - and risks for dementia - her cognition remained sharp until she died, and all her memories intact. I have a vivid recollection of her sitting at the kitchen table with a cassette player, recording stories of her early adult life in India in startling detail.

I have often wondered what protected my grandmother's brain, since my mother's was ravaged by Alzheimer's. Of course, there could have been many things - luck may even have played a hand. No matter how well you live your life, you may still be unfortunate enough to get dementia at the end of it.

My grandmother's undimmed curiosity may have been a factor.

In her short book The Sense of Wonder, the American marine biologist, writer and conservationist Rachel Carson describes how the son of Swedish natural scientist and oceanographer Otto Pettersson remembers his father.

When he died, at the age of 93, the father was in full possession of his mental faculties. He had, the son recalled, enjoyed every new life experience, every discovery, keenly.

When he realised he was dying, he remarked to his son that what had sustained him was an "infinite curiosity".

Recent research supports this idea. Psychologists at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) suggest that one factor in ageing well is staying curious.

Their research shows that some forms of curiosity can increase well into old age, and suggests that older adults who stay curious, asking questions and showing an interest in lifelong learning, may be able to offset - even prevent - Alzheimer's disease.

Conversely, those whose interest declines as they get older may be at risk of dementia.

They describe two types of curiosity: state curiosity, the fleeting feeling of curiosity people experience when they are asked about specific topics, and trait curiosity, a personality characteristic, or trait.

Some people, for example, might not be curious by nature - that is trait curiosity. But they may have a passionate thirst for knowledge of specific topics - which is state curiosity.

Broadly speaking, trait curiosity declines with age. However, while state curiosity declines in early adulthood, it rises sharply after middle age and continues into old age.

Oddly, this finding also mirrors research that shows a dip in happiness in midlife, a time in life that is often full of stressors - work, family, mortgages - and, frequently, too little time for extracurricular interests, which may be a positive distraction from stress.

With retirement, children growing up and leaving home, there is time for new interests, so they can exercise "state curiosity" and reap the benefits.

UCLA psychologist and study lead author Alan Castel said the findings fit with an earlier theory: "As we get older, we don't want to stop learning, we're just more selective about what we want to learn."

His work on memory has shown that people tend to quickly forget information that does not engage their curiosity - whereas they retain the stuff that does. That makes for a positive cognitive workout, which is why curiosity can help the brain to form new neural connections.

A study published in the journal Neuron more than a decade ago highlighted how curiosity enhances learning and memory by activating the brain's reward system and prompting the release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter involved in motivation and pleasure.

As we get older, Castel says, "Maybe we want to be focused on the things that are important, and we forget the things that are less relevant.

"A lot of older adults I speak to say that it's important to stay curious. That fits with some of the research that shows that people who have early stages of dementia might show disinterest in things that they once enjoyed."

Curiosity also helps stimulate brain activity because it nudges it towards the "do novel things" habit that many experts advocate for preserving our intellect.

Those "novel" things do not have to be huge undertakings such as travelling to new countries; they could include something as simple as talking to new people.

Otto Pettersson's "infinite curiosity" could apply to my grandmother. She was fascinated by people and their stories, and she never stopped asking questions.

Listening to her radio kept her abreast of current affairs and contemporary thinking, and she was much more broad-minded than many of her contemporaries.

Did these factors exercise her cognition and keep her brain healthy even when she could not see well or move around with ease?

What my grandmother taught me about how to stoke curiosity

Never stop asking questions.

Remain engaged with younger people, and do not judge the way they live now, which may be quite different from the way you lived at the same age. Try to understand their choices by asking questions. My grandmother never judged my - admittedly poor - choice to live with a boyfriend. She strove to understand why I had made the choice, which meant she was my choice of confidante when the relationship ended.

Read outside your usual genre - my grandmother could not read, but listened to a diverse range of "talking books".

Keep varied company. Throughout her life, my grandmother enjoyed the company of a diverse range of people of different ages, nationalities, creeds and backgrounds.

Seeking to learn about people encouraged her to ask even more questions and always from a position of open-mindedness and genuine interest. Because of that, she began to question some of the beliefs she had been raised with.

Curiosity, it seems, breeds curiosity.

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This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (www.scmp.com), the leading news media reporting on China and Asia.

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2025-05-27T07:38:58Z