Volunteer Work Is Good for the Brain

An analysis of data from the 2010, 2012, and 2014 Swedish National Prescribed Drug Register reveals that seniors who regularly perform volunteer work in their community are significantly less likely to develop dementia than those who don’t do volunteer work or only do so infrequently. The authors of the analysis write, “Our results largely support the assumptions that voluntary work in later life is associated with lower self-reported cognitive complaints and a lower risk for dementia, relative to those who do not engage, or only engage episodically in voluntary work.” PLOS ONE, March 2017