What can seniors do to keep their brains healthy? An active lifestyle does not improve it, Brisk exercise and plenty of relaxation. That's good for the aging brain, many brain scientists say. But a study of 585 American over-65s found no evidence that it improves memory retention.
Meditating an hour a day, exercising 300 minutes a week or a combination of those did not produce a significant effect. The study appeared this week in the scientific journal JAMA.
December 13, 2022Effects of Mindfulness Training and Exercise on Cognitive Function in Older AdultsA Randomized Clinical TrialEric J. Lenze, MD1; Michelle Voegtle1; J. Philip Miller, AB2; et al
My husband uses Brain HQ every day, it offers a free exercise for helping with cognition each day unless you join the app so could use it more often.
He does the Wordle, free word puzzles offered by NY times. We have an old Wii with many games he uses. Writes poetry, draws uses excell for spreadsheets daily. Plus many other crosswords, word puzzles. They seem to keep his mind sharp!
Thanks for your response. The study did not involve cognitive training. That certainly seems like a good thing to do. However, here was research on the effect of physical training and meditation. One group followed an intensive exercise program that included cardio, strength and balance exercises, another meditated for an hour a day, partly under supervision, the third group did both and the control group received only health education. The participants were tested four times. After six months and at the end, after 18 months, there was no clear difference in cognitive functioning between the groups. Very remarkable because there were earlier smaller studies with different outcomes.
Brain function in PD patients is thought to improve with regular exercise, which would strengthen connections between different brain regions. Strange that this does not seem to play a role in the target group of healthy seniors. A healthy lifestyle is of course advisable for the physical and mental PD issues, but the study puts also into perspective the idea that healthy aging is entirely up to you.
Interesting, but I put this in the category of proof that there will always be contradictory studies and so believe the vast preponderance (hundreds) of studies that show exercise does preserve mental acuity in older persons.
The researchers had also based their research on the generally more or less positive previous results as you can see in their analysis objectives:
“Our main hypothesis is that MBSR and exercise each improve cognitive function in older adults, including memory and executive function. We also hypothesize that greater cognitive benefits result from the combination because of the complementary nature of their mechanisms, such as decreased cortisol with MBSR and improved insulin sensitivity with exercise. Finally, we hypothesize that enhanced neuroplasticity, as shown through changes in structural and functional neuroimaging, explain the cognitive improvements.”
However, the very large and solidly controlled study, unexpectedly showed this remarkable result. At first, I thought this was possibly caused by exercises where there was no room for improving neuroplasticity, but that too turned out not to be the case.
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