（参考信源：《神经病学》期刊 2026-02-11）While going to school and studying for exams might sometimes feel like a drag, new research has found an association between high levels of lifelong learning and a lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, as well as slower cognitive decline. The findings, published February 11 in the journal Neurology, point to activities that might help people maintain healthy brain function.
尽管上学和备考有时可能让人感到乏味，但一项新研究发现，高水平的终身学习与较低的阿尔茨海默病发病风险以及较慢的认知衰退速度之间存在关联。这项发表于 2 月 11 日《神经病学》期刊的研究结果指出，某些活动可能有助于人们维持健康的大脑功能。
“Cognitive impairment is one of the most feared aspects of aging,” study co-author Andrea Zammit, a neuropsychologist at the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center, tells Medical News Today’s Corrie Pelc. “Finding modifiable lifestyle factors that may lower the risk of Alzheimer’s disease dementia and slow cognitive decline is important because these behaviors can become habits or parts of everyday life, offering people practical ways to maintain their cognitive health as they age.”
“认知障碍是人们最担忧的衰老问题之一，” 该研究的合著者、拉什阿尔茨海默病中心的神经心理学家安德里亚·扎米特向《今日医学新闻》的科里·佩尔克表示，“寻找可改变的生活方式因素，以降低阿尔茨海默病痴呆的风险并减缓认知衰退，这一点非常重要，因为这些行为可以成为习惯或日常生活的一部分，为人们提供随着年龄增长保持认知健康的实用方法。”
Zammit and her colleagues found this association by tracking 1,939 individuals, three-quarters of whom were women, for an average of nearly eight years. At the beginning of the study, the participants did not have dementia and were an average of about 80 years old. The team collected information about their learning resources and cognitive activities in their youth, middle age and later life.
Zammit 和她的同事们通过追踪 1,939 名个体（其中四分之三为女性）平均近八年时间，发现了这一关联。研究开始时，参与者均未患痴呆症，平均年龄约为 80 岁。研究团队收集了他们青年、中年及晚年时期的学习资源和认知活动信息。
To investigate early enrichment activities before turning 18, participants answered questions about how often they read, access to newspapers and atlases at home and foreign language learning. Middle age information included income level, library cards, dictionaries, magazine subscriptions and library and museum outings at age 40. Enrichment in later life, beginning at around 80 years old, involved income and how often they wrote, read and played games.
为调查 18 岁前的早期丰富活动，参与者回答了关于阅读频率、家中报纸和地图册的获取情况以及外语学习的问题。中年信息包括收入水平、图书馆卡、词典、杂志订阅以及 40 岁时的图书馆和博物馆外出活动。晚年生活的丰富活动，从大约 80 岁开始，涉及收入以及他们写作、阅读和玩游戏的频率。
About 28 percent, or 551 participants, developed Alzheimer’s disease during the tracking period, and 719 participants experienced mild cognitive impairment. Among people with the lowest levels of cognitive enrichment, in the bottom 10 percent, 34 percent of them were diagnosed with the neurodegenerative disease, the team found. In the top 10 percent, that number was 21 percent. And those with the highest enrichment scores developed the form of dementia five years later, on average, than those with the lowest amounts. The same lifetime enrichment comparison groups showed a seven-year difference, on average, in the onset of mild cognitive impairment.
在追踪期间，约有 28%（即 551 名参与者）罹患阿尔茨海默病，另有 719 名参与者出现轻微认知障碍。研究团队发现，在认知丰富度最低的群体（处于后 10% 水平）中，有 34% 被诊断出患有神经退行性疾病；而在前 10% 的群体中，这一比例仅为 21%。平均而言，认知丰富度最高的人群比最低人群晚 5 年出现此类痴呆症状。在终身认知丰富度的对比中，两组人群出现轻微认知障碍的时间平均相差 7 年。
“These are meaningful differences,” Zammit tells Medical News Today. “A delay of five to seven years can translate into several additional years of independent living, something that many older adults value deeply. Even modest shifts in timing of onset of impairment can have substantial impact at both the individual and population level.”
“这些差异具有重大意义，” 扎米特向《今日医学新闻》表示。“五到七年的延迟可能意味着多出数年的独立生活，这是许多老年人极为珍视的。即使是障碍出现时间的微小推移，也可能对个人和群体层面产生实质性影响。”
After accounting for factors including sex, age and education, analyses revealed that greater lifetime enrichment scores were associated with a 38 percent lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease, as well as a 36 percent decreased risk of mild cognitive impairment.
在考虑性别、年龄和受教育程度等因素后，分析显示，较高的终身认知丰富度评分与阿尔茨海默病风险降低 38% 相关，同时轻微认知障碍的风险也降低了 36%。
“This new research shows that staying mentally active throughout life can cut the risk of Alzheimer’s disease by nearly 40 percent,” Isolde Radford, senior policy manager at the charity Alzheimer’s Research U.K., tells the Guardian’s Andrew Gregory. “This supports what we already know about the preventive steps people can take to reduce their risk of developing dementia.” The study also emphasizes that dementia isn’t just a natural aspect of aging, according to Radford, who was not involved in the new work.
“这项新研究表明，终身保持思维活跃可以将阿尔茨海默病的风险降低近 40%，” 英国阿尔茨海默病研究慈善机构的高级政策经理伊索尔德·拉德福德告诉《卫报》的安德鲁·格雷戈里。“这进一步证实了我们已经了解的预防措施，人们可以通过这些措施来降低患痴呆症的风险。” 拉德福德还强调，根据这项新研究（她本人未参与），痴呆症并非仅仅是衰老的自然结果。
The findings do not suggest that lifetime learning directly alters the risk of developing Alzheimer’s. What’s more, the study relied on information from participants of an advanced age recalling their youth and midlife, so some of their memories might be wrong.
研究结果并未表明终身学习会直接改变患阿尔茨海默病的风险。此外，该研究依赖于高龄参与者回忆其青年和中年时期的信息，因此部分记忆可能存在误差。
Still, Zammit calls the results “encouraging, suggesting that consistently engaging in a variety of mentally stimulating activities throughout life may make a difference in cognition,” per a statement, and adds that “public investments that expand access to enriching environments, like libraries and early education programs designed to spark a lifelong love of learning, may help reduce the incidence of dementia.”
尽管如此，扎米特在一份声明中称这些结果 “令人鼓舞，表明一生中持续参与各种脑力刺激活动可能会对认知产生影响”，并补充说 “公共投资扩大接触丰富环境的机会，如图书馆和旨在激发终身学习热情的早期教育项目，可能有助于降低痴呆症的发病率。”