At Neuroscience News, Lisa Howard reports, on behalf of University of California at Davis,

A new study of over 13,000 adults found that having a strong sense of purpose in life is linked to a reduced risk of dementia. Those with higher purpose were 28% less likely to develop cognitive impairment, even when accounting for genetic risk and other factors.

The effect was consistent across racial and ethnic groups and modestly delayed the onset of decline by more than a month over eight years. The findings suggest that building purpose through relationships, goals, or meaningful activities may help keep the brain resilient with age.

“Having a Purpose in Life Linked to Lower Dementia Risk,” August 25, 2025

The study participants were adults aged 45 and older who were followed for up to 15 years. The researchers found that the protective effect of having a sense of purpose remained significant even when the APOE4 gene, a risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease, was taken into account.

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What does a sense of purpose do for us?

The researchers believe that purpose helps the brain stay resilient. Fortunately, they list a wide range of activities that various studies have found to play a role:

– Relationships: Caring for family, spending time with grandchildren or supporting a spouse or friend.

– Work or volunteering: Continuing professional work, mentoring or contributing to community causes.

– Spirituality or faith: Religious beliefs, spiritual practices or involvement in faith-based communities.

– Personal goals: Pursuing hobbies, learning new skills or setting and achieving personal milestones.

– Helping others: Acts of kindness, philanthropy, caregiving or advocacy work. “Lower Dementia Risk,”

The bad news is that the effect was delayed by only an average of 1.4 months over an eight-year period. However, any actual effect is a tool in the box and, as the researchers point out, this one does not come with the risks associated with medications.

From the paper:

Of 13,765 participants, 1,820 (13%) developed cognitive impairment during follow-up (median of 8 years and up to 15 years). Those with higher PiL [purpose in life] had significantly lower risk for developing cognitive impairment compared to those with lower PiL after adjusting for sex, baseline age, educational attainment, average depressive symptom score, and race/ethnicity (HR = 0.72, 95% CI: [0.63–0.82]). This association remained significant after adjusting for APOE E4 in addition to the above covariates in a subset with genotyping data. Furthermore, participants with higher PiL had a later onset age for cognitive impairment compared to participants with lower PiL after accounting for these covariates.

Howard NC, Gerasimov ES, Wingo TS, Wingo AP. Life Purpose Lowers Risk for Cognitive Impairment in a United States Population-Based Cohort. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2025 Oct;33(10):1021-1031. doi: 10.1016/j.jagp.2025.05.009. Epub 2025 Jun 5. PMID: 40555597.

Some other recent dementia findings of interest:

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● Some lifestyle factors are reliably associated with the risk of early dementia (before 65 years of age), according to a study sponsored by the University of Exeter, published last February in the Journal of the American Medical Association – Neurology. The study of over 350,000 people found three notable factors: Vitamin D deficiency, social isolation, and alcoholism.

One caution here is that correlation is not causation. People who do not get out much may suffer from both social isolation and Vitamin D deficiency. Some may drink heavily to compensate for loneliness or because they are losing good judgment due to the onset of dementia. In other words, these factors may not be causing the dementia but they are probably making it worse.

● Researchers at the University of California, Davis, and Northwestern University analyzed data from eight studies in the literature comprising over 44,000 people. Of these, 1,703 developed dementia. The researchers wanted to know what effect, if any, the Big Five personality traits — conscientiousness, extraversion, openness to experience, neuroticism, and agreeableness — had on dementia’s progress. Studying both performance on cognitive tests and brain autopsies, they found:

… high scores on negative traits (neuroticism, negative affect) and low scores on positive traits (conscientiousness, extraversion, positive affect) were associated with a higher risk of a dementia diagnosis. High scores on openness to experience, agreeableness, and life satisfaction had a protective effect in a smaller subset of studies.

University of California – Davis, “These 3 Personality Traits Are Linked to a Lower Risk of Dementia,” SciTech Daily, January 17, 2024

Again, the relationship is not a simple cause => effect one. Conscientious people, for example, are likely to eat a healthy diet and otherwise look after themselves, whereas people who are neurotic might obsess about things that have little impact on their health or well-being.

● All that said, as we noted last August, some researchers believe that almost half of dementia cases could be prevented or delayed:

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… a consortium of dementia experts believes that roughly 40% of cases could be prevented or delayed by changes in lifestyle or environment, for example by reducing air pollution and alcohol consumption.

“Maintaining a healthy blood pressure might be the single best preventative measure. Researchers at Johns Hopkins have found that people using blood pressure medications lowered their risk by about one-third. Moreover, studies suggest that learning a second language could delay the onset of Alzheimer’s symptoms by five years on average.” – Pomeroy, “‘Breakthrough’ Alzheimer’s treatments”

Second language learning? Well, it exercises the brain at a time when it is in danger of, perhaps dangerously, slowing down.

It’s early days yet for dementia research but closing in on the factors associated with avoidance of dementia is a useful advance.