The Busier the Better: Greater Busyness Is Associated with Better Cognition

Sustained engagement in mentally challenging activities has been shown to improve memory in older adults. We hypothesized that a busy schedule would be a proxy for an engaged lifestyle and would facilitate cognition. Here, we examined the relationship between busyness and cognition in adults aged 50–89. Participants (N = 330) from the Dallas Lifespan Brain Study (DLBS) completed a cognitive battery and the Martin and Park Environmental Demands Questionnaire (MPED), an assessment of busyness. Results revealed that greater busyness was associated with better processing speed, working memory, episodic memory, reasoning, and crystallized knowledge. Hierarchical regressions also showed that, after controlling for age and education, busyness accounted for significant additional variance in all cognitive constructs—especially episodic memory. Finally, an interaction between age and busyness was not present while predicting cognitive performance, suggesting that busyness was similarly beneficial in adults aged 50–89. Although correlational, these data demonstrate that living a busy lifestyle is associated with better cognition.

[1]  Ian M. McDonough,et al.  The Synapse Project: Engagement in mentally challenging activities enhances neural efficiency , 2015, Restorative neurology and neuroscience.

[2]  Robert Epstein,et al.  The Upside of Stress: Why Stress Is Good for You, and How to Get Good at It , 2015 .

[3]  T. Luck,et al.  Differential effects of enriched environment at work on cognitive decline in old age , 2015, Neurology.

[4]  M. Grossman,et al.  Occupational attainment influences survival in autopsy-confirmed frontotemporal degeneration , 2015, Neurology.

[5]  I. Kåreholt,et al.  The role of midlife occupational complexity and leisure activity in late-life cognition. , 2015, The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences.

[6]  T. Shors.  The Adult Brain Makes New Neurons, and Effortful Learning Keeps Them Alive , 2014 .

[7]  Denise C. Park,et al.  How Does it STAC Up? Revisiting the Scaffolding Theory of Aging and Cognition , 2014, Neuropsychology Review.

[8]  Sara Haber,et al.  Training Older Adults to Use Tablet Computers: Does It Enhance Cognitive Function? , 2014, The Gerontologist.

[9]  R. Levine,et al.  A Geography of Busyness , 2014 .

[10]  Denise C. Park,et al.  The Impact of Sustained Engagement on Cognitive Function in Older Adults , 2014, Psychological science.

[11]  C. Lopes,et al.  Complexity of lifetime occupation and cognitive performance in old age. , 2013, Occupational medicine.

[12]  M. Schroeter,et al.  Enriched Environment at Work and the Incidence of Dementia: Results of the Leipzig Longitudinal Study of the Aged (LEILA 75+) , 2013, PloS one.

[13]  M. Staal.  Stress, Cognition, and Human Performance: A Literature Review and Conceptual Framework , 2013 .

[14]  L. Wisk,et al.  Does the perception that stress affects health matter? The association with health and mortality. , 2012, Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association.

[15]  Kevin J. Grimm,et al.  Do changes in lifestyle engagement moderate cognitive decline in normal aging? Evidence from the Victoria Longitudinal Study. , 2012, Neuropsychology.

[16]  Gaja Brulc,et al.  Training older adults to use ICT , 2011 .

[17]  Patricia A Tun,et al.  Histories of social engagement and adult cognition: midlife in the U.S. study. , 2011, The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences.

[18]  Jason C. Allaire,et al.  Age Differences in Daily Predictors of Forgetting to Take Medication: The Importance of Context and Cognition , 2011, Experimental aging research.

[19]  Y. Stern,et al.  Cognitive reserve in aging. , 2011, Current Alzheimer research.

[20]  B. Uttl,et al.  Self-report measures of prospective memory are reliable but not valid. , 2011, Canadian journal of experimental psychology = Revue canadienne de psychologie experimentale.

[21]  T. Salthouse,et al.  The role of activity engagement in the relations between Openness/Intellect and cognition. , 2010, Personality and individual differences.

[22]  P. Rendell,et al.  Reliability and validity of the Prospective and Retrospective Memory Questionnaire (PRMQ) in young and old people: A Japanese study , 2010 .

[23]  B. McEwen,et al.  Effects of stress throughout the lifespan on the brain, behaviour and cognition , 2009, Nature Reviews Neuroscience.

[24]  L. Fried,et al.  Exploring the effects of an "everyday" activity program on executive function and memory in older adults: Experience Corps. , 2008, The Gerontologist.

[25]  Denise C Park,et al.  The effects of an engaged lifestyle on cognitive vitality: a field experiment. , 2008, Psychology and aging.

[26]  D. Bennett,et al.  Total daily activity is associated with cognition in older persons. , 2008, The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry.

[27]  D A Bennett,et al.  Relation of cognitive activity to risk of developing Alzheimer disease , 2007, Neurology.

[28]  C. Hautier,et al.  Training for older adults. , 2007, Annales de readaptation et de medecine physique : revue scientifique de la Societe francaise de reeducation fonctionnelle de readaptation et de medecine physique.

[29]  Peter Graf,et al.  Personality predicts prospective memory task performance: an adult lifespan study. , 2007, Scandinavian journal of psychology.

[30]  Denise C Park,et al.  Improving Cognitive Function in Older Adults: Nontraditional Approaches. , 2007, The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences.

[31]  K. Denhaerynck,et al.  Prevalence and Risk Factors of Non‐Adherence with Immunosuppressive Medication in Kidney Transplant Patients , 2007, American journal of transplantation : official journal of the American Society of Transplantation and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons.

[32]  P. Sachdev,et al.  Assessment of complex mental activity across the lifespan: development of the Lifetime of Experiences Questionnaire (LEQ) , 2006, Psychological Medicine.

[33]  G. Fricchione,et al.  The relaxation response: reducing stress and improving cognition in healthy aging adults. , 2006, Complementary therapies in clinical practice.

[34]  E. Kemps,et al.  General lifestyle activities as a predictor of current cognition and cognitive change in older adults: a cross-sectional and longitudinal examination. , 2005, The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences.

[35]  Jonathan Gershuny,et al.  Busyness as the Badge of Honor for the New Superordinate Working Class , 2005 .

[36]  Helga Noice,et al.  A Short-Term Intervention to Enhance Cognitive and Affective Functioning in Older Adults , 2004, Journal of aging and health.

[37]  B. Winblad,et al.  An active and socially integrated lifestyle in late life might protect against dementia , 2004, The Lancet Neurology.

[38]  M Richards,et al.  Leisure activities and cognitive function in middle age: evidence from the Whitehall II study , 2003, Journal of epidemiology and community health.

[39]  Lisa Barnes,et al.  Assessment of Lifetime Participation in Cognitively Stimulating Activities , 2003, Journal of clinical and experimental neuropsychology.

[40]  Yaakov Stern,et al.  Cognitive Reserve and Lifestyle , 2003, Journal of clinical and experimental neuropsychology.

[41]  A. Otero,et al.  Social networks, social integration, and social engagement determine cognitive decline in community-dwelling Spanish older adults. , 2003, The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences.

[42]  Denise C. Park,et al.  The Martin and Park Environmental Demands (MPED) Questionnaire: Psychometric properties of a brief instrument to measure self-reported environmental demands , 2003, Aging clinical and experimental research.

[43]  Arthur F Kramer,et al.  Exercise, experience and the aging brain , 2002, Neurobiology of Aging.

[44]  Pamela K. Smith,et al.  Models of visuospatial and verbal memory across the adult life span. , 2002, Psychology and aging.

[45]  D. Deeg,et al.  Activity in older adults: cause or consequence of cognitive functioning? A longitudinal study on everyday activities and cognitive performance in older adults. , 2002, The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences.

[46]  A. Grant,et al.  The Self-Reflection and Insight Scale: A new measure of private self-consciousness , 2002 .

[47]  C. Schooler,et al.  The reciprocal effects of leisure time activities and intellectual functioning in older people: a longitudinal analysis. , 2001, Psychology and aging.

[48]  C. Schooler,et al.  The continuing effects of substantively complex work on the intellectual functioning of older workers. , 1999, Psychology and aging.

[49]  L. Berkman,et al.  Population based study of social and productive activities as predictors of survival among elderly Americans , 1999, BMJ.

[50]  R. Dixon,et al.  Use it or lose it: engaged lifestyle as a buffer of cognitive decline in aging? , 1999, Psychology and aging.

[51]  E Leventhal,et al.  Medication Adherence in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients: Older Is Wiser , 1999, Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

[52]  T. Arbuckle,et al.  Individual differences in trajectory of intellectual development over 45 years of adulthood. , 1998, Psychology and aging.

[53]  Bruce Mcewen,et al.  Stress, Adaptation, and Disease: Allostasis and Allostatic Load , 1998, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.

[54]  T. Arbuckle,et al.  Structural equation model of intellectual change and continuity and predictors of intelligence in older men. , 1995, Psychology and Aging.

[55]  P. Rabbitt,et al.  Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB): a factor analytic study of a large sample of normal elderly volunteers. , 1994, Dementia.

[56]  A. Mackinnon,et al.  The association between mental, social and physical activity and cognitive performance in young and old subjects. , 1993, Age and ageing.

[57]  T. Salthouse,et al.  Decomposing adult age differences in working memory. , 1991 .

[58]  R. Engle,et al.  Is working memory capacity task dependent , 1989 .

[59]  K. Schaie.  Midlife Influences Upon Intellectual Functioning in Old Age , 1984 .

[60]  Carmi Schooler,et al.  Psychological effects of complex environments during the life span: A review and theory , 1984 .

[61]  N. Carlozzi.  Shipley Institute of Living Scale , 2017 .

[62]  Denise C. Park,et al.  The adaptive brain: aging and neurocognitive scaffolding. , 2009, Annual review of psychology.

[63]  F. Seguin,et al.  Effects of stress throughout the lifespan on the brain, behaviour and cognition , 2009 .

[64]  Denise C Park,et al.  Improving cognitive function in older adults: nontraditional approaches. , 2007, The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences.

[65]  Yaakov Stern,et al.  Cognitive Reserve: Implications for Assessment and Intervention , 2013, Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedica.

[66]  R. Nisbett,et al.  Cultural variation in verbal versus spatial neuropsychological function across the life span. , 2002, Neuropsychology.

[67]  D. Hultsch,et al.  Age differences in cognitive performance in later life: relationships to self-reported health and activity life style. , 1993, Journal of gerontology.

[68]  J. Brandt.  The Hopkins Verbal Learning Test: Development of a new memory test with six equivalent forms. , 1991 .

[69]  Ruth B. Ekstrom,et al.  Manual for kit of factor-referenced cognitive tests , 1976 .

[70]  J. Raven,et al.  Manual for Raven's progressive matrices and vocabulary scales , 1962 .