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<\/p>\nA healthcare scientist has sharing the many different health benefits of picking up one specific hobby that many might consider a ‘grandma activity’ – but has been linked to a reduction in dementia risk<\/p>\n
Dementia is a devastating condition for any individual or family going through it (stock image)(Image: Ridofranz via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
A healthcare researcher has revealed how starting one hobby can help to reduce your risk of developing dementia<\/a> ‘in half’ while also providing other benefits to your life. Dementia <\/a>is a broad term describing a deterioration in cognitive function that significantly disrupts daily living<\/a>. Rather than being a specific illness, it’s a syndrome resulting from various disorders <\/a>affecting the brain.<\/p>\n While there is no guaranteed way to prevent dementia, up to 45 per cent of cases worldwide could be delayed or prevented through targeted lifestyle changes, health experts have said. To help people prevent dementia, one scientist has now shared how starting a specific hobby can slash your risk of getting dementia ‘in half’.<\/p>\n Neil K. Shah is a healthcare researcher<\/a> focused on caregiving for the aging population. He’s known as ‘America’s chief elder officer’ and is an National Institutes of Health-funded Principal Investigator on the YayaGuide AI for Dementia Caregiver Training project that he started at Johns Hopkins University in Balimore. He has also grown a following of more than 115,200 people on TikTok, where he often shares researched-backed health facts, including how to reduce risk of dementia.<\/p>\n “This hobby cuts your dementia risk in half: Knitting,” Neal revealed in a recent video that he posted on TikTok<\/a>. “I’m not exaggerating. Let me show you the science, because I think it’s wild.”<\/p>\n He went on to explain that, in a Mayo Clinic study<\/a>, participants who knitted and crafted were 30 to 50 per cent less likely to develop mild cognitive impairment, a stage right before dementia.<\/p>\n How can knitting prevent dementia?<\/p>\n While it sounds odd that a pastime often considered a ‘grandma hobby’ can be so beneficial to our minds, Neil went on to explain just how it works. “Knitting forces both the hands into coordinated, complex movement, which builds what scientists call a cognitive reserve,” he explained.<\/p>\n He goes on to say: “The logical side counts the stitches, the creative side reads the pattern. But the brain stuff isn’t just the start.”<\/p>\n Other health benefits of knitting<\/p>\n In addition to helping prevent dementia, science has shown that knitting offers several other benefits, both physical and mental. Firstly, Neil explained that the act of knitting has been proven to ‘kill pain’ <\/a>anywhere in your body.<\/p>\n He explained: “Pain isn’t just made in your knee, it’s made in your brain. And your brain can only process so much at once.”<\/p>\n Content cannot be displayed without consent<\/p>\n “Knitting floods it with signals that crowd the pain out,” he added. “This is real enough that UK pain clinics now prescribe it.”<\/p>\n