The reason I focus on factors like these is that many, though not all, of course, are amenable to change. If we can identify the things that protect or harm our cognitive abilities, we will be able to provide clear information or design better interventions, i think the opportunity to use our thinking and reasoning skills and continually use them throughout our lives likely contributes to our ability to stay sharp.

What we hope is that our current findings encourage other researchers interested in the determinants of health and well being in older adults to also consider sexual behaviors.