中文导读

人们常说老年人要多动脑，但和别人一起做事是否也能帮助大脑？以往研究结论并不一致。中国研究团队在《流行病学与社区健康杂志》（Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health）上发表的新研究，合并了美国、英格兰、中国、墨西哥和欧洲五项全国性长期调查的数据，覆盖24个国家、57,793名平均年龄57至73岁的中老年人，平均跟踪约六年。结果显示，参加社交活动的人认知得分更高，活动种类越多得分越高，参加三类及以上似乎保护作用最强；做志愿者和加入体育俱乐部在五个调查群体中都与较低的认知衰退风险相关，参加培训课程和照顾孩子也与更高得分相关，而政治、社区和宗教团体活动没有一致的关联。研究者提出“用进废退”、改善情绪和减轻压力等可能解释，同时强调这是观察性研究，不能证明因果，且只统计了活动数量、没有衡量活动质量和感受。文章按“新发现—研究背景—数据与方法—主要结果—可能解释—局限”展开，阅读时可留意 may、seemed、linked to 等词如何区分“相关”与“导致”。

正文

Doctors often tell older people to keep their minds busy with puzzles or reading. A new international study suggests that spending time with other people in several different ways may matter as well. Older adults who joined three or more kinds of social activities had better memory and thinking scores, and their abilities seemed to decline more slowly.

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医生常常建议老年人通过做谜题或阅读让大脑保持忙碌。一项新的国际研究表明，以多种不同方式与他人相处可能同样重要。参加三类或更多社交活动的老年人，在记忆和思维测试中得分更高，而且他们的能力似乎衰退得更慢。

The research, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health by a team in China, tried to solve an old problem. Earlier studies on social life and brain health had given mixed results. The authors believed this might be because many studies were small, came from only a few places and measured activities in different ways.

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这项研究由中国的一个团队发表在《流行病学与社区健康杂志》上，试图解决一个老问题。此前关于社交生活与大脑健康的研究结果不一。作者认为，这可能是因为许多研究规模较小、只来自少数地方，而且衡量活动的方式各不相同。

To get a wider picture, the team combined long-term data from five national surveys covering 24 countries, including the United States, England, China, Mexico and many parts of Europe. In total, 57,793 people took part. Their average age ranged from 57 to 73, and they were followed for about six years. In each round of the surveys, people reported which social activities they did, and they took tests of memory and other thinking skills.

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为了获得更全面的图景，研究团队合并了五项全国性调查的长期数据，覆盖24个国家，包括美国、英格兰、中国、墨西哥以及欧洲许多地区。共有57,793人参与。他们的平均年龄在57岁到73岁之间，平均被跟踪约六年。在每一轮调查中，人们报告自己参加了哪些社交活动，并接受记忆及其他思维能力的测试。

The results showed a clear pattern. People who took part in social activities scored higher than those who took part in none, and scores rose with the number of activities. Doing at least three seemed to offer the strongest protection. Volunteering and belonging to a sports club were linked to a lower risk of decline in all five survey groups. Attending training courses and caring for children were also linked to higher scores. However, taking part in political, community or religious groups did not show a consistent link.

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结果显示出清楚的规律。参加社交活动的人得分高于完全不参加的人，而且活动种类越多，得分越高。参加至少三类活动似乎能提供最强的保护。在全部五个调查群体中，做志愿者和加入体育俱乐部都与较低的认知衰退风险相关。参加培训课程和照顾孩子也与更高的得分相关。然而，参加政治、社区或宗教团体并没有表现出一致的关联。

Why might social life help the brain? One idea is “use it or lose it”: activities that make people think, plan and talk may keep connections in the brain strong. Meaningful activities may also improve mood and reduce long-term stress, which can harm the parts of the brain used for memory.

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社交生活为什么可能对大脑有帮助？一种观点是“用进废退”：让人思考、计划和交谈的活动，可能使大脑中的连接保持牢固。有意义的活动还可能改善情绪、减轻长期压力，而长期压力可能损害大脑中与记忆有关的部位。

The researchers are careful about their conclusions. Because this was an observational study, it cannot prove that social activities cause better thinking. The five surveys did not ask questions in exactly the same way, and they counted how many activities people did, not how much they enjoyed them. Even so, the authors say programmes that help older adults stay socially active in many ways could be a useful way to protect their minds.

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研究人员对结论持谨慎态度。由于这是一项观察性研究，它无法证明社交活动导致了更好的思维能力。五项调查提问的方式并不完全相同，而且它们统计的是人们参加了多少种活动，而不是人们有多喜欢这些活动。即便如此，作者表示，帮助老年人以多种方式保持社交活跃的项目，可能是保护他们思维能力的一种有用途径。

新闻来源

• BMJ Group · Diverse and sustained social activities may boost cognition in older age (Oct 2026)
• Phys.org / British Medical Journal · Diverse and sustained social activities may boost cognition in older age (20 Oct 2026)
• Scimex · Diverse social activities could boost our brains in older age (21 Oct 2026)
• Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health · Association between social activity and cognitive enhancement among older adults: results from five longitudinal cohort studies

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