the internet may good for our brains after all, according to a new study that says surfing through one’s retirement years can have a big impact on cognitive function.
the research,
published in the journal of economic behavior and organization
,
analyzed the cognitive abilities of 2,105 retired europeans and found that those who used the internet regularly after retirement performed better on tests than those who ditched the technology at the same time as their day job.
study participants — a group of older individuals from austria, belgium, denmark, france, germany, italy, israel, spain, sweden and switzerland who all retired in 2004 — were subjected to a series of cognitive tests between 2013 and 2015, including one that required them to recall a list of 10 words immediately after hearing them, then again 10 minutes later. on average, participants who used the internet after they retired were able to recall 1.22 more words than non-internet users. this group was also more likely to be male, younger, more educated and more recently retired.
“our results reveal that using the internet, post-retirement, leads to a marked reduction in the rate of cognitive decline,”
said vincent o’sullivan
, a co-author from lancaster university management school in england. “interestingly, this protective effect was found to be most significant amongst women, with female retirees who regularly surfed the internet able to recall 2.37 more words compared to women who didn’t go online. the results were also consistent among men, with retired internet users able to recall 0.94 more words than men with similar characteristics who didn’t use the internet.
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