The mother of our youngest grandchildren forwarded a link to this Grandma just after she returned home after caring for the six and three year old grandchildren for several days. I think she was trying to encourage me to do this again. . . .as if I needed the encouragement! All I need is the time.
The article is by C. Kramer, “Could Grandparents Really Lower Their Risk Of Alzheimer’s By Doing This?,”
She writes:
New research reveals that women who take care of their grandchildren one day a week are less likely to develop Alzheimer’s. This is because the mental activity derived from looking after youngsters can actually increase brain function. Women who looked after their grandchildren one day a week had a better memory for words. (Keep in mind, however, that if grandparents look after grand-kids five days a week or more, it can actually have a negative impact on their mental health.) Since Irene started looking after her two granddaughters once a week, she no longer has pain in her bones or a vitamin D deficiency – this is from being outside more often, as well as being more mentally and physically active. Check out the video to hear more about this study!
Of course this Grandma watched the video and looked at the comments. In the video, Professor Cassandra Szoeke of the University of Melbourne and her mother, the grandmother of two adorable girls, ages three and five, appeared. The grandmother repeated this Grandma’s mantra that the responsibility lies in the parents, but grandparenting is a privilege and fun and shows you a different way of life. The study has been going on for two decades. More about the study can be found at Science Daily.
The next thing that came “to mind” which is still functioning, is whether this brain function benefit could work for a long distance grandma too. According to the study, it requires 52 days a year, okay maybe at least 48? We get to see our grandchildren close to that, considering their longer visits to us for holidays. Yes! Maybe, Grandpa and I will stave off Alzheimers.
However, as the comments provided and a look at the study informed, the study was done on postmenopausal women, not men of grandparenting age, and the summary of the study says, “Taking care of grandkids one day a week helps keep grandmothers mentally sharp, finds a study. That’s good news for women after menopause, when women need to lower their risks of developing Alzheimer’s disease and other cognitive disorders.”
As far as the study with regard to grandmothers who care for their children five days a week:
But those taking care of grandchildren for five or more days a week did significantly worse on one of the tests, which assesses working memory and mental processing speed.
That was a finding the researchers didn’t expect. However, they also found that the more time grandmothers spent taking care of the grandchildren, the more they felt that their children had been more demanding of them, so maybe mood plays a role in the unexpected result. The investigators are already following up with more research.
Taking care of children is exhausting. Parenting is hard, so can we extrapolate and think that parenting also is negative on mood? Hmmm.
I do not know about other grandmothers, but this Grandma does laundry, helps with cooking and straightening and does chores during visits to their homes while the grandchildren are in school and daycare. I do not know if my mood would be so good if this became a full time job, although I have been known to say that I wish I could be my grandchildren’s nanny.
After reviewing the results of this study, I think part time grandmothering is now the way to go. Long distance grandparenting seems to have its benefits. Way to go with
Joy,
Mema
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