A new study published by the American Psychological Association suggests that caring for your grandchildren doesn’t just bring joy – it might also help keep your brain sharper as you age.
Researchers found that grandparents who helped look after grandchildren scored higher on memory and verbal tests than those who didn’t, even after taking into account age, health and other factors.
The survey asked whether participants had provided care for a grandchild at any point in the past year. It also asked questions about how frequently they provided care and what kinds of care they provided, including watching grandchildren overnight, caring for ill grandchildren, playing or engaging in leisure activities, helping with homework, driving grandchildren to school and activities, preparing meals and more.
Lead researcher Flavia Chereches from Tilburg University in the Netherlands, who analysed the data from nearly 2,900 grandparents aged around 67, says the results go beyond just how often you’re on babysitting duty.
“Many grandparents provide regular care for their grandchildren, care that supports families and society more broadly,” she said.
“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.”
Perhaps most interestingly for nannas and pops, the study didn’t find that how often you care matters as much as being involved at all.
“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,” Flavia said.
The research also hinted that grandmothers who provide care saw slightly less decline in cognitive tests over time than those who didn’t, reinforcing the idea that being connected through play, chats, homework help and school runs might be more than good for the soul.
But there’s a caveat: Flavia and her team emphasised that future work needs to understand the broader family context.
“Providing care voluntarily, within a supportive family environment, may have different effects for grandparents than caregiving in a more stressful environment,” she said.
So the next time you’re dropping everything to pick the kids up from school or planning a sleepover, remember, you might just be giving your brain a bit of a workout too.
