Socially active people in their 50s and 60s have a lower risk of developing dementia later in life, a new study suggests.

Health News: Socially active people in their 50s and 60s have a lower risk of developing dementia later in life, a new study suggests.

According to Health News, citing Mehr, studies have shown that early social contact from early life plays an important role in preventing dementia.

Now, a team of researchers from University College London asked 10,228 participants at six time points between 1985 and 2013 about the frequency of their social contact with friends and relatives.

The participants also took cognitive tests for dementia from 1997 onwards.

The researchers found that increased social contact at age 60 was associated with a significantly reduced risk of developing dementia later in life.

People who saw friends almost every day at age 60 were 12 percent less likely to develop dementia than those who saw one or two friends every few months, the researchers said.

The findings of the new study suggest that social engagement may protect people from dementia in the long term because social engagement is associated with practicing cognitive skills such as memory and language, which helps with cognitive recovery.