Brain Training Could Delay Dementia
Brain Exercises May Help Prevent Cognitive Decline in Elderly
Aug 10, 2009
While there is evidence that brain exercises do work to slow down cognitive decline, there is also research that says the really elderly will not benefit sufficiently from them. To be effective, they need to be started while people are in their 60s and 70s.
Alzheimer’s Rapid Memory Decline Delayed with Brain Exercises
People who engage in activities that exercise the brain, such as reading, writing, and playing card games, may delay the rapid memory decline that occurs if they later develop dementia, according to a study published in the August 4, 2009, issue of Neurology,
"Persons destined to develop dementia experience an accelerated rate of decline in cognitive ability, particularly in memory,” said lead author of the study, Dr Charles B Hall, Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, Einstein College of Medicine, New York.
“Early life education and participation in cognitively stimulating leisure activities later in life are two factors thought to reflect cognitive reserve, which may delay the onset of the memory decline in the preclinical stages of dementia.”
Brain Training through Leisure Activities Helps Build Cognitive Reserves
Dr Hall’s team observed 488 people aged 75 to 85 for about five years, none of whom had dementia at the start of the study. During that period, 101 participants developed dementia.
Participants reported at the start of the study how often they enjoyed six leisure activities that engage the brain: reading, writing, doing crossword puzzles, playing board or card games, group discussions, and playing music. For each activity, daily participation equaled seven points, several days a week was four points, and once weekly was one point.
The people who later developed dementia averaged only seven points – they only did one of each of the activities per week. In fact,10 people reported doing none of these activities, and 11 reported only one per week.
The researchers then looked at people who scored more than seven points, and compared the rapid memory loss experienced by the people developing dementia. They found that for every additional activity a person participated in, the onset of rapid memory loss was delayed by 0.18 years.
“The point of accelerated decline was delayed by 1.29 years for the person who participated in 11 activities per week compared to the person who participated in only four activities per week,” Dr Hall reported.
Start Younger to Train Memory
Dr Cindy Lustig, associate professor of psychology at the University of Michigan, said that while brain training programs do work, the people who need them most are usually too old to benefit.
“The bottom line is that in most memory training programs, the people who likely need training the most – those 80 and older and people with lower initial ability – improve the least," Dr Lustig said.
Her team took a memory training program used both with healthy older adults and people in the beginning stages of Alzheimer's disease, and asked what was different about the people who showed big benefits from training versus those who showed little or no improvement.
“People in their 60s and 70s used a strategy of spending most of their time on studying the materials and very little on the actual test, and showed large improvements over the testing sessions,” she said.
“By contrast, most people in their 80s and older spent very little time studying and instead spent most of their time on the test. These people did not do well and showed very little improvement even after two weeks of training.”
Dr Lustig’s research was published in the August 2009 issue of Psychological Science.
You might also be interested in Benefits of Brain Training for Older Adults and Ways to Avoid Alzheimer’s.
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