One of the many frustrations for both patients and their families that comes with the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease is the fact that there is very little that can be done to halt or treat the disease.

However, a new study has found that those people who report higher levels of intellectual stimulation throughout their lifetimes don't exhibit the lower levels of protein plaques and other signs of Alzheimer's, compared to those who don't.

The research, published this week in the journal Neurology, was performed by Dr. Keith Johnson from the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School and his colleages. The results don't show that mental activity can affect the biology of Alzheimer's in any way, but it can have a meaningful impact on its symptoms. According to Dr. David Knopman, professor of neurology at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, that is "huge."

"If that resulted in a year or two delay in symptoms across the population, that would be a huge effect."

For the study, researchers examined 186 healthy volunteers with an average age of 74 who agreed to report their current and past cognitive activities, as well as undergo a brain scan to measure levels of the Alzheimer's associated protein called amyloid and the volumes of specific regions of the brain that are responsible for memory.

The group reporting more intellectual activity over the course of their lives did not show lower levels of Alzheimer's progression as those who reported less intellectual activity. However, the former group were able to delay the appearance of symptoms from the disease. Researchers believe that this is due to their stronger intellectual base compensating for the effects of the disease for a much longer period of time compared to those people who reported less intellectual activity.

"If two people had the same amount of Alzheimer's pathology, and one had higher education and engaged in more cognitively stimulating activities, and one had lower educational attainment and didn't participate in as many mentally stimulating activities, then the symptoms [of Alzheimer's] would appear earlier in the person with less cognitively stimulating activity," Knopman says.

Currently, the only hope for many patients are promising drugs that are currently under development, but these drugs have yet to be released. The only advice doctors can give at this time is to keep exercising your mind by learning new skills, languages, reading and using brain puzzles. Physicians believe that this type of stimulation as well as maintaining a healthy social life, can help delay the onset of the symptoms.