For some, knitting is a favorite past time because it’s calming and creative. You put together different color yarns to create something useful like socks, sweaters, or scarves. Aside from being relaxing and a creative outlet, a Turkish University is now teaching their seniors how to knit as a means of protecting their memories.
In Turkey, they have opened up the first ever senior’s University, where the requirement is being over the age of 60. There, they are teaching senior men how to string together yarn to fight memory loss.
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The class is only offered to men, and the participants enjoy some time outdoors while they learn how to knit. The students have noted an increase in brain function along with a reduction in forgetfulness.
Some men were quick to embrace the course along with their new-found memory, while others were more hesitant, noting that they believed knitting was women’s work. And yet, all the men are now partaking in knitting as a means of warding off dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
Researcher Ismail Tufan has been conducting a variety of studies across Turkey for nearly 20 years and has found a strong need for lifelong learning as a means of reducing dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
Tufan explained, “In a study conducted at the University of Cambridge, the risk of getting Alzheimer’s over the age of 60 is 11 percent less for those who continue their education than for those who do not attend programs. In this respect, ‘Senior Citizen University’ students are doing very meaningful work for their own lives and quality of life.
They get sick less, go to the doctor less, and feel better.”
These programs stress the importance of keeping your mind active in your older years as a means of protecting your precious memories. Even if you don’t have a “Senior’s University” in your area, you may want to visit your local community center or church to find programs that can keep your mind active. Frankly, with the ease of the internet, you can now learn how to knit online in the comfort of your own home. And if knitting isn’t your thing, the takeaway here is that you should never stop learning. Picking up any new hobby that you can learn about is a great idea to protect your brain.
Related: Yoga increases regions of the brain associated with memory and attention
