Have you been to an art museum lately? How about a museum of natural history? Read any good books? Maybe something outside of your usual genre? Answering “yes” to any of these questions might indicate that you are a life-long learner.
Life-long learners are—as the name suggests—people who continue learning long after their formal education has stopped. They typically seek out new worlds to explore, enjoying that there’s never a point at which they’ve “arrived.”
It turns out there are quite a few benefits to being a life-long learner, not the least of which is cognitive health. A recent study by researchers at Rush University Medical Center indicated people who had a “lifelong love of learning” developed mild cognitive impairment 7 years later than those who had very little lifetime enrichment; onset of dementia for the learners occurred nearly 5.5 years later than the other group (George, 2026).
Researchers used survey data to look at three specific periods and practices in life:
- Childhood: Were children read to at a young age? Did they have access to books? Did they learn a foreign language?
- Mid-Life: Did people in their 40’s subscribe to magazines? Did they use dictionaries to look up unfamiliar words? Did they read often?
- Later-Life: Were people in later life reading, playing games, going to museums, and writing?*
If you—like many people—are wondering how you can maintain optimal brain health as you age, go to the local art museum, pick up a book that has some harder-than-usual words in it, or simply grab pen & paper and start writing.
* Writer Patrick Walsh advises budding writers to abandon the keyboard in favor of the old-fashioned pen and paper. He argues that writing by hand benefits the brain by enhancing the reticular activating system, which acts as a gatekeeper to our conscious thoughts, as well as influencing our behavior and motivation. Also, writing by hand stimulates our brain’s neuroplasticity, allowing the brain to form new neural connections. All good stuff!
George, Judy. (2026). Alzheimer’s dementia risk nearly 40% lower with lifelong learning. MedPage Today. https://www.medpagetoday.com/neurology/dementia/119891
Walsh, Patrick. (2025). How writing (by hand) changes your brain. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnRMhWSYaCE
Rosemary Apol-Hoezee, RN, MPH, CPHRM, CDP
Dementia Specialist with the Dementia Institute
Info@Dementia-Institute.org