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Exercising the brain can as be as important as exercising the body. According to new research, seniors who trained their brains through stimulation, such as learning new things, have a lower risk of getting dementia. The researchers found that brain training helped stave off cognitive decline regardless of one's educational level and occupational activities.

"In terms of preventing cognitive [mental] impairment, education and occupation are important," said study lead author Prashanthi Vemuri, an assistant professor of radiology at the Mayo Clinic and Foundation in Rochester, MN reported in Philly. "But so is intellectually stimulating activity during mid- to late life. This is very encouraging news, because even if you don't have a lot of education, or get exposure to a lot of intellectual stimulation during non-leisure activity, intellectual leisure activity later in life can really help."

For this study, Vemuri and colleagues recruited almost 2,000 participants between the ages of 70 and 89. The participants were a part of the Mayo Clinic aging study that took place from 2004 to 2009. Roughly 1,700 of them were considered "cognitively normal" at the start of that study and around 300 of them suffered from "mild cognitive impairment." Aside from these initial testing scores, the researchers looked at the participants' educational level and occupational successes. Participants also filled out questionnaires about how often they used their brains intellectually.

After controlling for the APOE gene, which has been tied to an increased risk of Alzheimer's disease, the researchers compared the participants' cognitive health. They found that carriers of the APOE gene, people with less education, older individuals and men had lower cognitive functions at the start of the study. When the researchers examined people's lifetime intellectual engagement, which combined education, occupation and brain stimulation, they found that people with the highest levels had a delayed risk of dementia by nine years. The effect was strong regardless of the APOE gene. The team added that regardless of early educational and occupational activity, continuous brain stimulation and intellectual activity could reduce dementia risk.

"It turns out that even if you don't have a lifetime of educational and occupational development, intellectual activity in later life can really help -- perhaps delaying cognitive impairment by at least three years," Vemuri said.

The study was published in JAMA Neurology.