Melbourne scientists have discovered that keeping the brain and body stimulated not only delays the dementia linked to a range of diseases but can also slow the progression of memory loss.


Although their study was in mice affected by Huntington’s disease, researchers from Howard Florey Institute said that the findings opened up new treatment possibilities for many brain disorders and diseases where dementia played a key role.

These included Alzheimer’s, depression and schizophrenia.

When the mice were put in settings which provided mental and physical stimulation, including having running wheels in their cages and interesting objects to smell, see and touch, they performed better in memory tests, said Dr Jess Nithianantharajah, who described the discovery as “remarkable”.