The Influence of Lifestyle Activities on Midlife Memory Performance

A wealth of evidence supports the positive influence of physical, cognitive and social lifestyle activities on cognitive aging. However, the specific contributions of these lifestyle domains to memory performance in midlife, and the role of dementia risk, remain underexplored. This study investigated how self-reported lifestyle engagement during youth (13-30 years) and midlife (30-65 years) was associated with long-term memory performance in 399 middle-aged adults (mean age = 51.89 years). Participants completed a continuous report episodic memory task which measured both retrieval success (accessibility of memories) and memory precision (accuracy of fine-grained details). Lifestyle engagement was assessed using the Lifetime of Experiences Questionnaire (LEQ) and dementia risk was classified based on family history. Memory precision showed a significant negative association with age and was lower in participants with family history of dementia. In contrast, retrieval success was significantly associated with lifestyle engagement during midlife. When examined by lifestyle type, social engagement during youth and cognitive activity during midlife were both positively associated with retrieval success. These findings indicate that at midlife, memory performance is already being differentially influenced by specific types of lifestyle engagement that has occurred throughout the lifespan. The results also suggest a distinction in the factors influencing memory retrieval success and precision. Specifically, lifestyle engagement was more closely linked to memory accessibility, while biological factors including age and family history of dementia appeared to influence memory precision. This distinction offers new insights into the mechanisms through which lifestyle may support memory across the lifespan.