Web Surfing Can Help Slow Dementia

It’s time to teach Grandma to Google. Surfing the Internet can slow or even reverse the mental decay that leads to dementia, according to a new study. UCLA researchers scanned the brains of 24 men and women aged 55 to 78 and discovered that surfing the web was more stimulating than reading, with the effects lasting long after they’d logged off.

“For older people with minimal experience, performing Internet searches for even a relatively short period of time can change brain activity patterns and enhance function,” the study’s author told the Times of London. "Our most striking finding was that Internet searching appears to engage a greater extent of neural circuitry that is not activated during reading.” (More internet stories.)