Cognitive Labs

Are you fearful that your cognitive powers are spiraling out of control as a result of the aging process? While it is true that cognitive decline begins a slow, gradual descent around age 45, this decline is not always an inevitable result of the aging process. And having fleeting but frustrating moments when you cannot remember where your glasses are or recall the name of someone you haven't seen for a while does not mean you are destined for serious memory issues.

Major memory loss is generally caused by organic disorders, brain injuries or neurological issues. Good news for senior moments. Fortunately, when it comes to increasing learning and memory skills, research confirms that there are many ways we can sharpen our minds and actually improve memory as we age.

Tips for improving memory

Use it or lose it

It is believed exercises that stimulate the brain such as reading, traveling, card games, memory games, musical instruments -- even changing your daily routine around -- help stimulate the hippocampus, the part of the brain most responsible for memory.

It is also a good idea to challenge the brain by introducing new activities that you have never done before.

For me, personally, my latest mental stimulation is taking piano lessons, something I had never done -- and I love it!

Get movin'

Regardless of what part of the body you want to strengthen, you need to follow the "use it or lose it" principle.

When you begin to exercise, muscles will use oxygen at a significantly higher rate, increasing blood flow throughout the body, including the memory-brain area.

Just as exercise helps to keep arteries to the heart open, exercise will do the same for blood vessels in the brain. Even exercising in small doses can help sharpen your memory, but it is important for memory enhancement that the exercising be consistent.

Some studies indicate that regular exercise workouts can even reverse aging in the brain.

Friendships and fun

Maintaining a strong support system by interacting with friends, whether by phone or in person, can stimulate the brain.

In a recent study from the Harvard School of Public Health, researchers found that people with the most active social lives had the slowest rate of memory decline. And if friends aren't readily available, don't forget the friendship and love of a pet. They both come with cognitive benefits.

Adequate sleep

While occasional bouts of insomnia are generally nothing to be concerned about, chronic sleep deprivation can negatively affect memory recall.

If you have trouble sleeping, you might want to try listening to a progressive muscle-relaxation tape. Amazon.com has a variety of tapes available.

De-stress

Chronic stress (activating the stress hormone cortisol) is a major contributor to memory loss. Because we cannot totally void our lives of stress, it would be better to think in terms of stress management rather than stress elimination.

Introducing relaxation techniques such as relaxation breathing into your daily living can help to defuse the biochemical and physiological reaction to the pending stress: Inhale deeply through your nose to a count of four, hold your breath for several seconds, then exhale through the mouth, taking twice as long (eight seconds).

Don't forget to laugh -- a great stress reliever! And learn to say no before taking on added responsibilities when your plate is already full.

Hydrate

Drink before you are thirsty.

Even a slight amount of dehydration can reduce mental energy resulting in memory impairment. It is recommended you drink 48 to 64 ounces -- or six to eight 8-ounce glasses -- of water daily.

Brain-boosting foods

Fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids are salmon, trout, tuna, halibut, sardines, mackerel and herring. Nonfish sources include walnuts, pumpkin seeds and soybeans.

Brightly colored fruits and veggies provide antioxidants, which play a major role in improving memory function.

Foods rich in folic acid are spinach, kale, collards, asparagus, black beans and romaine lettuce.

The Alzheimer's Society recommends eggs to improve memory. They have vitamins important for nourishing the memory center in your brain.

Exercises

Hip rotator stretch

Stretches outer muscles of hips and thighs. Lying on a mat, bend knees, feet flat on floor. Keeping knees together and shoulders on floor, slowly lower knees to one side, as far as you can without forcing them; turn head in opposite direction. Hold position for 10-15 seconds.

Hip and lower back stretch

On hands and knees, abdominals contracted to support back, extend one leg diagonally to the back.

Standing side stretch

Standing tall, left ankle crossed over right ankle, hold onto a support with left hand. Inhale as you lean away from support, exhaling as you take opposite arm over to center of head.

The Saw (Pilates)

Stretches sides of back, hips and hamstrings. Sitting tall, extend legs, toes flexed, about shoulder-width apart, arms stretched out to the sides, shoulder-height. Contract abdominals, exhaling while turning torso and head to the right, reaching left hand to ankles or toes, without lifting hips off floor, Extend other arm diagonally to the side, shoulder-height.

Brain facts

Here are a few interesting facts from "100 Fascinating Facts You Never Knew About the Human Brain" (nursingassistantcentral.com):

-- The average brain weighs approximately 3 pounds and has about 100 billion neurons.

-- We are continually developing new neurons throughout our lives if we stimulate our brain though mental activity.

-- The brain is 75 percent water and uses about 20 percent of our oxygen when we are at rest.

-- The human brain is the fattest organ in the body and may consist of at least 60 percent fat.

-- The brain stops growing at age 18.

-- The average number of thoughts that humans are believed to experience each day is 70,000.

The study will be presented by Dr. Louis Bherer, PhD (Psychology), a laboratory director and researcher at the Institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal (IUGM), an institution affiliated with Université de Montréal at the Société Française de Médecine Physique et de Réadaptation symposium in Toulouse, on October 20. He is also the Canada Research Chair in Aging and the Prevention of Cognitive Decline and a professor at Université du Québec à Montréal. The study was carried out with his student Émilie de Tournay-Jetté and codirected by Dr. Gilles Dupuis from Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM).

Speeding up recovery and improving quality of life

This study demonstrated that patients suffering from cognitive deficits after coronary bypass surgery could greatly benefit from cognitive training that targets both attention and memory -- the cognitive functions most affected after this type of operation. "It is clear that seniors' brains have a certain degree of plasticity," Dr. Louis Bherer commented, "as we observed improvement in memory and attention even in subjects who did not undergo this training. In my opinion, this is a very useful discovery, as it suggests that patients should receive cognitive training in addition to the usual medical follow-up." What's more, benefits from the training are maintained over time.

Dr. Bherer wanted to know whether these subjects' brains maintained plasticity despite the patients' advanced age, in other words, whether training aimed at a specific function would lead to benefits for other non-targeted functions. Through regular follow-up over six months, the researchers measured progress in 44 patients over the age of 65 who were chosen based on whether they were in good physical and mental health before the surgery.

The study suggests that the development of cognitive rehabilitation tools would be highly beneficial for patients who undergo coronary bypass surgery as a way to speed up their recovery and improve their quality of life.

Research summary

The day before their surgery, participants took a number of neuropsychological tests to measure their cognitive functions, including verbal fluency, short-term and delayed memory, interference effect, psychomotor speed, sustained and selective attention, ability to multitask, etc. The subjects were then divided into three groups for the study. The control group subjects did not undergo any cognitive training after their operations. The second group received memory training followed by training that aimed to improve attention level. Finally, the third group received attention training followed by memory training. The patients retook the neuropsychological tests 3 to 7 days after their surgeries as well as 1 month later to measure cognitive losses. After the testing, 65% of them showed a cognitive deficit after 1 week, a deficit that was still present for 41% of them after 1 month. Between the 6th and 10th week after the surgery, patients had 4 sessions of cognitive training 2 times per week. The patients then took various cognitive tests again at 3 months and 6 months.

This discovery is excellent news, as increased life expectancy has also increased the number of frail seniors in our communities. In geriatrics, frailness is characterized by decreased functional reserves in an individual, which increases vulnerability to stressors and the risk of adverse health effects. Frailty is associated with a higher risk of falls, hospitalizations, cognitive decline and psychological distress. Currently, 7% of seniors aged 65 to 74, 18% of those aged 75 to 84, and 37% of seniors over the age of 85 are considered frail.

"For the first time, frail senior citizens have participated in a study on exercise thanks to the collaboration of medical doctors at IUGM, who provided close medical supervision. My team was able to demonstrate that sedentary and frail senior citizens can benefit from major improvements not only in terms of physical function but also brain function, such as memory, and quality of life," stated Dr. Bherer.

"We hope to adapt the exercise program used in the study and make it available to the public through the seniors' health promotion centre that the IUGM is developing. We believe that by transferring our research findings to the public, we will help both healthy and frail senior citizens stay at home longer," concluded the researcher.

Research summary

In this study, 43 of the 83 participants between the ages of 61 and 89 years, some of whom were considered frail, took part in group exercises (3 times a week for 12 weeks), while the control group of 40 participants did not follow the exercise program. All participants were evaluated one week before the start of the program and at the end of the program for physical capacity, quality of life and cognitive health. Compared to the control group, trained participants showed larger improvement in physical capacity (functional capacities and physical endurance), cognitive performance (executive functions, processing speed and working memory) and quality of life (overall quality of life, recreational activities, social and family relationships and physical health). Most importantly, benefits were equivalent among frail and non-frail participants suggesting that there is't never too late to engage in exercise intervention programs . These findings were published online on the Web site of the Journals of Gerontology. This research received financial support from the IUGM's Comité aviseur de la recherche clinique (CAREC) along with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).

A new study by researchers at NYU School of Medicine reveals for the first time that metabolic syndrome (MetS) is associated with cognitive and brain impairments in adolescents and calls for pediatricians to take this into account when considering the early treatment of childhood obesity.

The study, funded by the National Institutes of Health under award number DK083537, and in part by award number 1ULIRR029892, from the National Center for Research Resources, appears online September 3 in Pediatrics.

As childhood obesity has increased in the U.S., so has the prevalence of metabolic syndrome – a constellation of three or more of five defined health problems, including abdominal obesity, low HDL (good cholesterol), high triglycerides, high blood pressure and pre-diabetic insulin resistance. Lead investigator Antonio Convit, MD, professor of psychiatry and medicine at NYU School of Medicine and a member of the Nathan Kline Research Institute, and colleagues have shown previously that metabolic syndrome has been linked to neurocognitive impairments in adults, but this association was generally thought to be a long-term effect of poor metabolism. Now, the research team has revealed even worse brain impairments in adolescents with metabolic syndrome, a group absent of clinically-manifest vascular disease and likely shorter duration of poor metabolism.

"The prevalence of MetS parallels the rise in childhood obesity," Dr. Convit said. "There are huge numbers of people out there who have problems with their weight. If those problems persist long enough, they will lead to the development of MetS and diabetes. As yet, there has been very little information available about what happens to the brain in the setting of obesity and MetS and before diabetes onset in children."

For the study, the researchers compared 49 adolescents with metabolic syndrome to 62 teens without the disorder. Of those who were not in the MetS group, 40 percent were considered overweight or obese, so while they were not in ideal health, they did not have three out of the five health issues needed to fall into the MetS group. The findings reported, therefore, are conservative and reflective of the real world.

Dr. Convit and colleagues balanced each group according to age, socioeconomic status, school grade, gender and ethnicity to ensure things like cultural differences in diet and access to quality healthcare did not cloud the data. They then conducted endocrine, MRI and neuropsychological evaluations on the adolescents and found that those classified as having MetS showed significantly lower math and spelling scores, as well as decreased attention span and mental flexibility. They also showed differences in brain structure and volume, presenting with smaller hippocampal volumes – involved in the learning and recall of new information, increased brain cerebrospinal fluid and reductions of microstructural integrity in major white matter tracts in the brain. The more MetS-characterizing health problems the participants had, the more profound the effect across the board.

"The kids with MetS took longer to do tasks, could not read as well and had poorer math scores," Dr. Convit said. "These findings indicate that kids with MetS do not perform well on things that are very relevant to school performance."

The researchers concluded that even a few years of problems with metabolism may cause brain complications. They suggest the adverse impact of MetS on brain function in children could be used by pediatricians as a powerful motivator to get families more involved in meaningful lifestyle change.

Read more