By Stephen Beech
Being a grandparent is good for the brain, according to a new study.
Caring for grandchildren – known as “gran-nannying” – may serve as a “buffer” against cognitive decline and dementia in older adults, say scientists.
Lead researcher Flavia Chereches said: “Many grandparents provide regular care for their grandchildren – care that supports families and society more broadly.
“An open question, however, is whether caregiving for grandchildren may also benefit grandparents themselves.
“In this research, we wanted to see if providing grandchild care might benefit grandparents’ health, potentially slowing down cognitive decline.”
Chereches, a doctoral candidate at Tilburg University in the Netherlands, and her colleagues examined data from 2,887 English grandmas and grandads all older than 50, with an average age of 67.
The participants answered survey questions and completed cognitive tests three times between 2016 and 2022.
The survey asked whether they had provided care for a grandchild at any point in the past year.
They were also asked about how frequently they provided care and what kinds of care they provided – including watching grandchildren overnight, caring for poorly grandchildren, playing or engaging in leisure activities, helping with homework, driving grandchildren to school and activities, preparing meals and more.
Overall, the researchers found that grandparents who provided childcare scored higher on tests of both memory and verbal fluency compared with those who didn’t, even after adjusting for age, health and other factors.
The findings, published in the journal Psychology and Aging, held true regardless of the frequency and type of care the grandparents provided.
The researchers also found that grandmothers who provided care saw less decline on cognitive tests over the course of the study compared with those who didn’t.
Chereches said: “What stood out most to us was that being a caregiving grandparent seemed to matter more for cognitive functioning than how often grandparents provided care or what exactly they did with their grandchildren.
“More research is needed to replicate these findings, yet, if there are benefits associated with caregiving for grandparents, they might not depend on how often care is provided, or on the specific activities done with grandchildren, but rather on the broader experience of being involved with caregiving.”
Around five million grandparents regularly take on childcare responsibilities, according to the charity Age UK, with just under 90% babysitting at least once a week.
One in 10 look after their grandchildren at least once a day, with the majority getting involved to help their own children work more to support their young family.
Age UK says “gran-nannying” has enormous benefits for older couples, keeping them mentally and physically active and combatting loneliness.
Chereches says further research should be conducted to explore the effects of family context and other variables.
She added: “Providing care voluntarily, within a supportive family environment, may have different effects for grandparents than caregiving in a more stressful environment where they feel unsupported or feel that the caregiving is not voluntary or a burden.”
