New study published in journal Neurology finds that if you want to lower your risk of developing dementia, you should exercise regularly, clean your house, and make social visits.

Investigators lead by researchers from Sichuan University analyzed data from 501,376 people from the UK Biobank. Subjects were without dementia and had an average age of 56 years old. They had filled out questionnaires on their physical activity including frequency such as doing household chores, climbing stairs, job-related work, strenuous sports and exercise, etc. They also filled out another questionnaire regarding mental activities like education, socializing at clubs and bars, religious group attendance, electronic device use, and family and friend social visits. The subjects were followed on average for 11 years.

Researchers found that people who were highly engaged in activity patterns of frequent exercising, household chores, and daily visits with family and friends lead to a 35%, 21%, and 15% lower risk of dementia, respectively, compared to those least engaged with these activity patterns. Additionally, these activities were protective whether or not one had a family history of dementia.

So want to decrease your risk of developing dementia, exercise regularly without any excuses not to, clean your house and don’t hire someone to do it or make your spouse do it, and hangout with your friends and family and develop good relationships with them. Avoiding dementia in many ways is just enjoying those simple fruits of life.

J Zhu et al. Physical and mental activity, disease susceptibility, and risk of dementia a prospective cohort study based on UK Biobank. Neurology. DOI: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000200701