Stop singing that tired tune. It's bullshit.
Keeping Your Brain Active Does Nothing To Ward Off Alzheimer's
I was inspired to write the post after reading this article, but the article I've linked to is far from the only one to make the erroneous claim that "keeping your mind active will help ward off Alzheimer's."
While this article has good points, I take exception with one tired old tune that everyone keeps playing.
I think that the "keeping your brain active to ward off Alzheimer's" mantra is a bunch of happy horseshit. I'm sorry to say, but many of the Alzheimer's patients I took care of were academics--intelligent people whose business it was to use their minds. There is no shortage of intelligent people who used their minds all day every day who have, unfortunately, developed Alzheimer's.
Beliefs such as "you can prevent Alzheimer's by keeping your mind active" or "you can prevent diabetes by 'eating right' have a big blame the victim component
Both of these diseases are strongly tied to genetics. You could eat an entire cake every day and never develop diabetes if you don't have the genetic trigger for diabetes. You could sit around watching nothing but reruns of The Pickup Artist during your free time every day for your entire life and never develop Alzheimer's if you don't have the genetic trigger for Alzheimer's.
Not that it's a good plan to sit around eating entire cakes while watching reruns of The Pickup Artist. However, while doing so may turn you into a reprehensible douchebag while increasing the possibility of tooth decay, it won't cause you to develop Alzheimer's or diabetes.
~The Cheese Hath Grated It~
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