Minding the kids is great brain training for grandmothers, new research reveals. But don’t get carried away, because there’s such thing as too much of a good thing when it comes to child minding.
In the study, grandmothers who looked after the children once per week did best on tests of cognitive functioning, assessing functions such as memory and mental processing speed. In comparison, those looking after the children for five days per week did much worse, possibly from the mentally and physically demanding effects of such tasks.
If you’re a mother looking to off load your child for some relaxation time, more evidence will be coming your way from this research group in Australia.
Being socially engaged is good for mental sharpness and preventing cognitive disorders such as Alzheimer’s, however we’ll have to wait just a little longer to see just how many days we should burden our elders with children, and how exactly it is good for them.
Faye Prior (Researcher)
Source
http://www.menopause.org/docs/default-source/2014/grandparenting-final-website.pdf
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