Incredibly enjoyable hobby could help stave off brain problems in older age

Dr Miriam Stoppard on the news that a keen interest in gardening as we get older may herald small, detectable, cognitive benefits to our memory and executive function

When I was expecting my first baby I became a gardener. It was part of the nesting instinct. I wanted my baby to have a nice garden.

Since then I’ve had several gardens but even now I’m passionate about it. Turns out I was doing myself a favour, because gardening is linked to improved thinking skills in older age.

A Scottish study has examined the lifestyles of hundreds of older adults and found those who spend time gardening have better cognitive function in later life than those who don’t have green fingers.

Such is the power of gardening that it overrides time spent in education, childhood cognitive ability, health, overall level of physical activity in older age and a person’s socio-economic status. The Edinburgh researchers say the findings provide some of the first evidence that gardening in older age is associated with small, detectable, cognitive benefits as we get older.

Researchers came up with this as part of a long-term study that is tracking participants throughout their lifetimes. It’s a novel project.

It follows people born in the Edinburgh area who sat an intelligence test aged 11, with hundreds of participants asked to sit the same exam at age 79 as part of the study called the Lothian Birth Cohort.

Throughout the long-term research, participants gave details of their lifestyles and completed frequent assessments of their thinking skills up to the age of 90. Of the 467 people tested, almost 31% had never gardened, but 43% regularly did.

On average, the 280 who frequently or sometimes gardened showed greater lifetime improvement in cognitive ability compared with those who never gardened or rarely did so.

Between the ages of 79 and 90, cognitive ability, including memory, problem solving, and word fluency, generally declined across the board, but the earlier advantage that gardeners had endured.

Identifying lifestyle behaviours, like gardening, that help healthy cognitive ageing might prevent cognitive decline and dementia.

Engaging in gardening projects, learning about plants, nurturing them and general garden upkeep, involves complex cognitive thought such as memory and executive function – and this might be directly associated with a lower risk of cognitive decline.

The researchers point out that the results don’t prove gardening directly boosts cognitive ability – that’s because factors not included in the study, such as the level of greenery in the neighbourhood or social interaction taking place during gardening activities, could have also played their part.

Researchers have been working with the Lothian Birth Cohort of 1921 since 1999 to chart how a person’s thinking power changes over their lifetime.