As society ages, the ability to age as healthily as possible becomes increasingly important. Research from the University of Michigan explores the role our neighborhood can play. The researchers developed an interactive map to allow users to examine how their neighborhood supports their cognitive health as they age.
The map was underpinned by a concept the researchers refer to as “cognability”, which shows that access to things like cultural centers, civic and social organizations, and recreation centers can help to protect us against cognitive decline as we get older.
Healthy aging
The researchers wanted to explore the role our neighborhoods play in our cognitive health as we age. They explain that there are hints as to its importance but it has traditionally been an overlooked area of study.
They found that access to such amenities is unequal and this should be considered as important a hazard as more traditional things, such as pollution in understanding health inequalities among older people.
They found that amenities such as coffee shops, museums, arts organizations, and recreation centers were crucial to predicting people’s cognitive function, with those who lived in areas with ready access to such facilities consistently scoring better than those without such access. Indeed, the difference is such that it’s akin to a two-year difference in people’s age.
“This is really groundbreaking work. Cognability helps people to think about their neighborhood environment with respect to their cognitive health,” the researchers explain. “Most research on cognitive function and dementia focuses on mitigating individual risk factors, but cognability redirects attention to those features in the surrounding environment that may go a long way to mitigating cognitive decline with aging.”
Cognitive support
In total, the researchers assessed 15 neighborhood features to see which might be most strongly associated with cognitive function in older adults. They then tested this on a sample of 20,000 volunteers that were recruited from the REasons for Geographic And Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) Study.
While they weren’t able to control for things such as wealth, they hope to be able to factor in these things in the future, as this obviously facilitates one’s ability to move to areas with more ammenities.
“The fact that we’re living in a country where people’s access to be healthy varies from neighborhood to neighborhood, that health is conditional on where you live, is important to demonstrate,” they explain.
They hope that the map will provide a way to make the research accessible and outline how our neighborhood influences the way we age, especially from a cognitive perspective so that policymakers and providers of community services are more aware of the important role such facilities provide.
“The idea is really just awareness and education. Dementia-friendly and aging-friendly efforts often lack real concrete evidence about what to build and how to support communities,” the authors conclude. “These don’t need to be huge overhauls. It could be adding shaded benches or a bathroom or outdoors exercise equipment targeting older generations to existing playgrounds and parks. It can be small increments to what we’re doing to help accommodate people ages eight to 80.”
