In this study the researchers at UCLA wanted to see if healthy lifestyle choices would effect the amount of memory loss in a wide range of ages. It has already been proven that healthy activity as well as choices decrease the chance of you getting a memory like illness or disease (for example Alzheimer's Disease). These scientist took a sample of 18500 individuals in between the age of 18-99 throughout the U.S. They tested them by asking them 5 questions "
(1) Do you smoke?
(2) Did you eat healthy all day yesterday?
(3) In the last seven days, on how many days did you have five or more servings of vegetables and fruits?
(4) In the last seven days, on how many days did you exercise for 30 minutes or more?
(5) Do you have any problems with your memory?". They used this data and collected there results. Although it was a surprise that the elderly lived healthier than the young, the hypothesis remained accurate in that the more people make healthy choices the less memory loss they will have (given that age increases, it is naturally occurring to have a higher chance of having memory loss)!
NOS themes: Science is based on evidence, Role of credibility, Role of skepticism, and Role of chance.
I think that it's odd how they would ask questions about a week ago, and then ask if the person has trouble with memory loss, but it's also cool that eating healthy could help your memory, and that would just be another incentive for people to live healthier.
ReplyDeleteEating healthy is known to improve so many things and it's not surprising that it would improve a person's memory. I'm concerned about how legitimate this study, the questions didn't seem like they did a good job in testing the hypothesis. They should have imposed two treatments, healthy eating and non healthy eating. With pre and post tests.
ReplyDeleteThat's really interesting how something like that could tie to memory loss. I found a site that even adds to the list of things causing memory loss. If you have more interest in this you should check out http://www.webmd.com/brain/memory-loss
ReplyDeleteI know multiple people who have had Alzheimer's and it is so interesting how activity can delay the onset of the disease. When I first learned about Alzheimer's I was curious, I found that it can be carried through your genes which I find really interesting. This site I found explains a lot about Alzheimer's in general.
ReplyDeletehttp://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/alzheimer-disease