Source: http://www.everydayhealth.com/senior-health/insurance-for-your-brain-read-write-and-play-games.aspx
WEDNESDAY, July 3, 2013 — People who read, write, and engage in other mentally stimulating activities preserve memories at a rate at least 32 percent higher than those who don’t — and more importantly, readers and writers are more likely to avoid dementia.
That’s according to a study released today in Neurology, which also suggests exercising the brain with mentally stimulating tasks is especially helpful in old age if you have done it all your life. But at any age it helps the brain function at a higher level, said the study’s lead author, Robert S. Wilson, PhD, of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. “Cognitively stimulating activity at any point in the life span appears to be related to better cognitive health in old age,” he said.
Although she was not a participant in the study, my mother, Shirley Brockway, a retired social worker who directed a senior citizen center until her nineties, swears that, at 95, her mind is sharp as a tack due to a lifelong love of books. Her nighttime ritual includes reading in bed for two to four hours. She has been doing this since she was 40, and she currently reads three books a week, usually starting to read at 10 pm. She will stay up till 3 am to read if she really loves a book. When her eyes started giving her trouble last year, she found a work-around: She started getting large print books and read for one hour less.
“It helps me keep my mind busy and it definitely helps me keep my mind sharp,” she said. “The only time I don’t read is if I am really tired or I if I do a crossword puzzle. I am also addicted to crossword puzzles.”
The Brain-Cell Building Power of Mental Stimulation
The Rush study sample of 294 people was tested for memory and thinking every year for a period of six years until they died, at an average age of 89. They also responded to a questionnaire that asked whether they read books, wrote, and/or participated in other mentally stimulating activities during childhood, adolescence, middle age and at their current age.
Researchers discovered that people who took part in mentally stimulating activities both early and late in life had a slower rate of memory decline compared to those who did not participate in such activities across their lifetime. After participants passed away, their brains were examined at autopsy for evidence of physical signs of dementia. “We controlled for level of brain pathology,” said Wilson. “The results prove that cognitive activity has a relationship with late-life cognitive decline that is independent of dementia-related brain pathology.”
Ultimately, the researchers found that the rate of decline was reduced by 32 percent in people with frequent mental activity in late life, compared to people with average mental activity, while the rate of decline of those with infrequent mental activity was 48 percent faster than for those with average activity.
Alice Vestergaard, EdD, MS, a professor at the College of Health, Human Services, and Science at Ashford University in Clinton, Iowa, who specializes in long-term care and the study of brain health in aging, explained it this way: “Research to date has documented that the mind works like a muscle. What we now know from using sophisticated imaging technology is that keeping the mind active can actually enable people to grow new brain cells, regardless of how old they may be. In science-speak we call this building new neuronetic connections. Current scientific theory indicates that the more neuronetic connections in the brain, the harder it is for the plaques and tangles of Alzheimer’s disease to take hold and create the ‘Alzheimer’s cascade’ of memory loss.”
People who keep their brains active throughout their lives can still develop Alzheimer’s disease, but they tend to do so later compared to people who have not keep their brains active, Vestergaard explained. “Keeping one’s brain active throughout the lifespan, in addition to regular exercise and a healthy diet, are the only trifecta insurance policy we have against cognitive decline at this time — until we come up with a cure for Alzheimer’s and other dementias.”
‘Use It or Loose It’ Applies to Your Brain, Too
“Because the brain is a plastic organ, with use being key to maintaining structure and function, staying mentally active throughout life is important,” said Gail Saltz, MD, associate professor of psychiatry at The New York Presbyterian Hospital Weill-Cornell School of Medicine and the author of Becoming Real: Defeating the Stories We Tell Ourselves That Hold Us Back. “In other words, ‘use it or lose it.'”
Prof. James Giordano, Ph.D., a neuroscientist with Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC, added that in addition to reading, writing, and puzzles, learning languages and musical instruments also keep the brain flexible.
“The easiest way to think about this is to think of your brain as a piano player,” said Giordano, offering a musical metaphor. “The piano player only has 10 fingers. The piano has 88 keys. So at any given time there are only going to be 10 keys depressed. But what makes a virtuoso piano player, as opposed to someone who’s just tinkling the ivories, is the speed, the integrity, the fluency, the fluidity, and the combination with which that individual is able to use those 10 fingers across those 88 keys. So what you are trying to do here is you are trying to create brain networks that use more keys, more often, more rapidly.”
Even if a couple of the keys no longer work correctly, or are out of tune, it does not mean the whole piano is out of order. “You can skip right over them and it still sounds wonderful,” he said. “So you are compensating for the fact that there may be some degeneration going on. And there may be some kind of loss of neurological function that is a natural consequence of aging, but you are using more of your brain per unit of time, and as a result more of the brain remains active — and engages in novel tasks.”
Keeping the mind engaged is key, he said. Doing things you enjoy, but in different ways, can also help. “The secret here is to try to do different things as often as possible, which is why puzzles are so great,” said Giordano, “because no two puzzles are identical. So things like Sudoku, crosswords, jigsaw puzzles are great. The same is true for reading; you try different books all the time and what you’re doing is reading different narratives by different people and you have to interpret them in different ways.”
When Geriatric Depression Gets in the Way
Reading a good book, writing a poem, playing with puzzles and musical instruments… these all sound like fun, but one of the challenges is helping seniors keep their spirits up enough to want to keep engage in these cognitively enhancing activities.
“Depression impacts motivation and attitude – both of which have an impact on someone’s engagement level in life,” said Vestergaard. “If one is withdrawn and/or doesn’t care, they are less inclined to put forth effort to participate and engage in any activity. Depression in elderly can manifest as impatience, anger, defeatism and a hopeless attitude, or apathy.”
“People who are depressed don’t feel like participating in activities, which is why it’s so important to monitor and get treatment for elderly people,” she said. “Rather than being all about decline, this period of life can be highly stimulating and engaging if people participate in the many opportunities that surround them,” she added.
Cognitive Activities: Stay Inspired
The trick is to find activities that inspire an elderly person. For example, not every loves to read, but other activities can have a similar impact on keeping the brain young. “Through scientific research, we know that it’s ‘newness’ or novelty that creates the most neuronal connections,” says Vestergaard. “The trick is you don’t want to overly stress the brain when doing any activity as this can have a contrary effect.” She suggests these activities in addition to reading, writing and puzzles:
- Learning the tango or ballroom dance sequences
- Listening to complex music such as classical music and then analyzing it
- Learning to play a musical instrument
- Building something
- Participating in a discussion group where people share ideas such as a book club or a public policy or advocacy group
- Playing games with your grandchildren
“Just as in the case of physical exercise, one is never too old to begin, Vestergaard said. “It is possible for older people to learn new skills and/or improve upon old skills — it’s only their motivation that may be lacking, not their capacity and capability.”
In addition to this, you can also improve your brain’s health by using supplements such as ageLOC Vitality and BioGinkgo 27/7.
ageLOC Vitality helps you feel more like you did when you were young by targeting the sources of age-related vitality loss.
BioGinkgo 27/7 promotes normal healthy memory and concentration. BioGinkgo 27/7 is an exclusive extra strength preparation of ginkgo biloba leaf extract for the maintenance of healthy cognitive performance and circulatory health.
Source: http://www.everydayhealth.com/senior-health/insurance-for-your-brain-read-write-and-play-games.aspx