Playing one particular game may help prevent dementia and relieve depression symptoms

According to a new study, Mahjong, a game that is popular in Asian countries, could slow cognitive deterioration and alleviate depressive symptoms in older adults with dementia

Playing one particular game may help prevent dementia and relieve depression symptoms, a new study has found.

Mahjong is a tile-based game that was developed in China in the 19th century and is popular throughout Asian countries. It is played by four people and usually involves 136 to 152 tiles which players have to take turns in drawing and discarding until one of them claims victory by presenting a certain set of combinations.

Research found that from 2002 to 2018, almost a quarter of the Chinese population said they played mahjong or cards in their leisure time. Mahjong is considered an "intellectual and social leisure activity" due to the complexity of its rules and because it involves multiple players, according to the latest study.

It also requires players to develop skills such as "identifying potential matches, mentally retaining relevant information, deciding which tiles to discard, and predicting other players' moves," the study, published in The Journal of Prevention of Alzheimer's Disease this summer, found. The game has also been found to have "the potential to concurrently enhance cognitive and psychological outcomes in older adults in Asian populations," researchers added.

According to the study, emerging evidence has shown that playing Mahjong "could slow cognitive deterioration and alleviate depressive symptoms in older adults with dementia." Researchers said that players aged 60 or above had stable or even improved cognitive function, better eye-hand coordination than non-players and experience a sense of being socially connected.

When it comes to the short-term benefits of playing mahjong, the study said players can experience an improvement in depression symptoms, as well as psychological distress and eye-hand coordination. Compared with older adults who never played mahjong, those who did experienced "exhibited better cognitive ability and reduced likelihood of having mild cognitive impairment," the study added.

In the long-term, playing mahjong was found to be associated with a reduced risk of cognitive impairment or dementia, better cognitive functioning and relatively stable or slow cognitive decline, researchers added. Players were also found to be less likely to experience loneliness and reported better sleep quality.

Researchers noted that the benefits of playing Mahjong have been discussed in previous research - but since studies were mainly written in Chinese, they have not been accessible to the wider research community and their findings have not been properly evaluated. The latest study said more research is needed "to advance our understanding of the theoretical mechanisms underlying the effects of playing mahjong."

Last month, scientists said a groundbreaking new test that utilises lasers to detect various forms of dementia in a matter of seconds has the potential to "revolutionise" the diagnosis of the disease. A study led by researchers at University Hospital Southampton (UHS) and the University of Southampton is currently underway, which uses lasers to analyse bodily fluids such as blood, spinal fluid, or mucus to identify individuals with dementia in the early stages of the disease.

The current diagnosis process for dementia can take up to two years, but this innovative laser-based technique is not only more cost-effective than existing tests but also yields results in mere seconds. Preliminary tests have demonstrated that it can detect Alzheimer's disease with an average accuracy of over 93 per cent.

Professor Chris Kipps, a consultant neurologist at University Hospital Southampton, hailed the new technique as "a breakthrough in medical technology" that could "change the way we approach dementia diagnosis". He said: "This innovation is not just a leap in healthcare quality; it's a paradigm shift, redefining our approach to neurodegenerative disease in the clinic."