Grandparents can improve their physical and mental health by babysitting their grandkids.

Age isn’t always kind to us. As we get older, a variety of health issues surface, with dementia being the most common when reaching advanced years. Do take care of yourself as early as now.

Dementia, according to alz, “is a general term for loss of memory, language, problem-solving and other thinking abilities that are severe enough to interfere with daily life. Alzheimer’s is the most common cause of dementia.”

Performing daily tasks such as driving, using utensils, and even the simple act of buttoning and unbuttoning clothing can be affected.

This disease eventually takes away the ability to take care of yourself. It doesn’t just affect the diagnosed, but the entire family as well. Everyone is in it to care for a dementia patient.

Science now says that elderly people who take care of their grandchildren could prevent dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

Studies carried out by the Women’s Healthy Aging Project in Australia and published in the journal of the North American Menopause Society, showed that grandmothers who babysit weekly have better cognitive skills compared to those who don’t.

186 women within their pre-menopausal stage were given three cognitive tests. 120 of those women are grandmothers. These grandmothers performed better in the cognitive skills test all because they would babysit their grandkids.

Researchers believed that spending time with or taking care of grandchildren has a positive impact on elderly women’s bodies. It could very well be a factor in lowering the risks of having Alzheimer’s disease or dementia.

The key here is that these grandmas’ spent a day or two with the kids. But those who stayed with their grandkids for five days or more got low scores as well. Everything in moderation.

The Institute on Aging at Boston College has carried out earlier studies on 376 grandparents as well as 340 children.

Observations were carried out for 19 years with results showing that those with closer relationships had lower possibilities of developing depression.

Social interaction is beneficial for seniors. It keeps the brain healthy.

In terms of physical benefits, the Berlin Aging Study, which was published in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior, observed more than 500 people above the age of 70. They found that grandparents who took care of their grandkids had a lower mortality rate.

Scientists think this is down to the physical effort exerted when watching kids.

It keeps seniors thinking and moving at the same time.

“You want to make sure that you find that right balance between getting the positive benefits of doing enough of an activity to help those in need and avoiding doing too much and getting to the point where the activity makes one overly stressed,” one of the scientists said.

Full-time babysitting was not studied but seeing as they are older, it would be best to limit the time spent together between grandparents and the kids. Grandparents should not be stressed.

Stronger family ties are always welcome. And science backing up those claims only makes it better for all involved.

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Source: My Positive Outlooks, YouTube