from journal PLOS One
Have you heard of the sport of orienteering? Not all of us have, but there’s reason we should. Orienteering demands athletic ability, navigation skills and memory. That combination could be useful to help fight cognitive decline, according to researchers at McMaster University writing in the journal PLOS One. Our ancient ancestors used those functions to survive their hunting and gathering lifestyle, but the conveniences of modern life makes them unnecessary. Case in point: GPS has taken the place of using our brain for navigation. Orienteering brings back those skills to train our brain to intervene in the cognitive decline related to dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers suggest a simple way to introduce orienteering in our lives—that is turn off the GPS and use a map.