Engaging in a hobby like reading a book, making a patchwork quilt or even playing computer games can delay the onset of dementia, a US study suggests.

    美国一项研究表明：从事一些业余爱好，如读书、缝制百衲被，甚至是玩电脑游戏，都能减缓痴呆症发病。

    Watching TV however does not count--and indeed spending significant periods of time in front of the box may speed up memory loss, researchers found.

    但是研究者们发现，看电视起不到这一作用--在电视机前消磨大量时间反而可能加速失忆。

    Nearly 200 people aged 70 to 89 with mild memory problems were compared with a group who had no impairment.

    研究者们将近200名70岁至89岁、有轻微失忆问题的老人和一组没有此症状的老人进行了对比。

    The researchers from the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota asked the volunteers about their daily activities within the past year and how mentally active they had been between the age of 50 to 65.

    明尼苏达州梅奥医疗中心的研究者们询问了参与调查的志愿者过去一年的日常活动，以及他们50岁至65岁期间头脑的活跃状况。

    Those who had during middle age been busy reading, playing games or engaging in craft hobbies like patchworking or knitting were found to have a 40% reduced risk of memory impairment.

    那些中年时忙于读书、玩游戏或是忙于拼布、编织等手工爱好的人，其记忆力衰退的可能性降低了40%.

    In later life, those same activities reduced the risk by between 30 and 50%.

    随着年龄的增长，坚持同样的活动能降低30%至50%的失忆可能性。

    Those who watched TV for less than 7 hours a day were also 50% less likely to develop memory loss than those who spent longer than that staring at the screen.

    与看电视时间超过7小时的人相比，每天看电视少于7小时的人失忆的可能性也要低50%.

    "This study is exciting because it demonstrates that ageing does not need to be a passive process. By simply engaging in cognitive exercise, you can protect against future memory loss. Of course, the challenge with this type of research is that we are relying on past memories of the participants, therefore we need to confirm these findings with additional research." said study author and neuroscientist Dr Yonas Geda.

    研究报告的作者、神经科学家约纳斯·格达博士说："这一研究结果令人激动，因为它证明老化并不一定是被动的过程。只要进行认知性的锻炼，就能预防失忆。当然，此类研究的挑战在于我们依赖的是参与者对过往的记忆，因此还得另有研究来证明这些发现。"

    Sarah Day, head of public health at the Alzheimer's Society said: "One million people will develop dementia in the next 10 years so there is a desperate need to find ways to prevent dementia. "

    老年痴呆者学会公共健康主管莎拉·戴说："未来十年将有一百万人患痴呆症，所以我们迫切需要找到预防痴呆症的方法。"

    "Exercising and challenging your brain--by learning new skills, doing puzzles such as crosswords, and even learning a new language--can be fun. "

    "学习新技术，玩玩纵横字谜之类的智力游戏，甚至学习一种新语言，借此训练和挑战你的大脑，都会很有趣。"

    "However, more research, where people are followed up over time, is needed to understand whether these sorts of activities can reduce the risk of dementia."

    "但我们还需要更多的研究来跟踪调查，看看此类活动究竟能否降低患痴呆的风险。"