Heavy Caregiving Accelerates Cognitive Decline in Middle-Aged and Older Adults, Study Finds

Caring for someone 50 hours or more a week causes accelerated cognitive decline among middle-aged and older adults, new research shows.

By contrast, providing care for five to nine hours a week improves brain health, with benefits persisting into later years.

Carers UK described the findings as extremely worrying. The group said long caregiving hours increase risks of social isolation and burnout.

Dr. Baowen Xue, lead author of the study from University College London, said: Our study shows that the caring responsibilities many people take on in later life can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, lighter caring responsibilities can be good for you by providing mental stimulation from interacting with loved ones or others you're helping and a sense of purpose and usefulness. But being overloaded with caring tasks has exactly the opposite effect and can accelerate people's mental decline in terms of not being as mentally sharp or quick-thinking as they used to be.

The researchers compared cognitive health among 2,765 caregivers aged 50 or older with that of 2,765 non-caregivers of the same age from the English Longitudinal Study on Ageing. They examined executive function, such as decision-making and handling competing tasks, along with memory. Participants averaged 60 years old, and women made up 56 percent of the group.

The paper, published in Age and Ageing, stated: Taking on manageable levels of caregiving may provide cognitively stimulating activities and coordinating care that helps maintain executive function in later life. Providing a few hours of support outside the household may help caregivers maintain their cognitive health as they age.

Caregivers providing 50 or more hours a week showed accelerated cognitive decline, the researchers wrote. They said the cognitive stimulation from caring is overshadowed by the demands of high-intensity care.

Such full-time caregivers often lack time for work or a social life, the study noted. The intensity of such care may lead to feelings of loneliness and disrupt sleep, further compounding its negative effects on cognition.

The UK's 2021 census found 5.8 million people provide unpaid care, with 1.7 million doing so for at least 50 hours a week.

Carers UK research last year showed just over half of all carers have increased their caregiving time. The charity added that caring has a profound impact on carers' health and wellbeing. Its research found 74 percent of carers feel stressed or anxious, 40 percent feel depressed, and 35 percent say their mental health is bad or very bad.

Helen Walker, Carers UK chief executive, said: These findings are extremely worrying, showing that many hours of caring could contribute to cognitive decline. She said the government, local councils, and the NHS need to provide more support to family carers.

Joseph Rowntree Foundation research last year for the IPPR thinktank found the proportion of adults providing care for more than 35 hours a week rose 71 percent between 2003-04 and 2023-24.

UCL researchers also found that caring for someone in the household led to quicker cognitive decline than caring for someone outside it.

The paper's authors called on the government to help intensive carers, defined as those with high workloads, through better access to funded formal and replacement care.

By 2040, around 20 percent of adults in England will live with major illnesses. With the NHS struggling and social care in crisis, much of the growing demand will fall on unpaid family members and friends.

Our findings show that this shift has profound implications: carers' wellbeing is often overlooked and there is a real danger that many people overburdened with caring responsibilities will suffer the consequences, the authors wrote.

Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, said: Anyone who cares intensively is likely to struggle to fit in the time for enough rest, sleep and time away doing things they enjoy. These are essential human needs which, when met, set you up for good mental and physical health. In most cases people care because they want to and because they are deeply committed to someone they love. Caring in and of itself is not the problem here. But we need to do a lot more to support people in this position so they can continue to stay fit and well, and so they have the time and space to enjoy living their own lives, while helping someone else to live theirs.