Brain 'Stretching' Is The Secret to Protecting Your Mind From Dementia

WASHINGTON (AP) — "Exercise your brain," experts advise people hoping to avoid dementia. But how? Stretching your brain might be the best description. Do one crossword a day and you might get good at crossword puzzles. Instead, research increasingly shows that a variety of habits and hobbies are like cognitive exercise, developing knowledge and skills that can strengthen parts of the brain as we age. A recent study linked a lower risk of Alzheimer's disease and cognitive decline with lifelong learning, that is, intellectually stimulating experiences (reading and writing, learning another language, playing chess, solving puzzles, going to museums) from childhood to retirement. "It's like they're stretching your brain and your thinking. You're using different cognitive systems," explained neuropsychologist Andrea Zammit of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, who led that study. If you didn't adopt what Zammit calls cognitively enriching activities at an early age, it's not too late to start. Midlife offers an important window to protect brain health, and scientists are examining a wide range of possible ways to stay alert, from starting to listen to music to watching birds and playing brain-training games. "It's not just about one activity. It's more about finding meaningful activities that you are passionate about," Zammit said, and sticking with them rather than dabbling. Physical health is also essential for brain health. That's why experts also recommend exercising that makes you sweat, as well as controlling blood pressure, sleeping well, and even getting vaccinated later in life. There is no magic bullet to prevent dementia or the normal cognitive decline of aging, cautioned Dr. Ronald Petersen, an Alzheimer's specialist at the Mayo Clinic. But lifestyle changes offer an opportunity to "slow the arc of decline," he said. Developing cognitive reserve can buffer brain aging Zammit's study on lifelong learning enrolled nearly 2,000 older adults, ages 53 to 100, who started out without dementia and were followed for eight years. The researchers questioned them about educational and other cognitively stimulating activities in their youth, middle and older years, and administered a battery of neurological tests. Some were eventually diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, but the disease appeared five years later in those with the most lifelong learning compared to those with the least, Zammit's team reported in the journal Neurology. And staying more mentally active in middle age and beyond was linked to a slower rate of cognitive decline. More interesting, Zammit said, were the autopsy findings of 948 participants who died during the study: Even when their brains harbored hallmarks of Alzheimer's, the most cognitively "enriched" people had better memory and thinking skills and slower decline before their deaths. That's what scientists call cognitive reserve. It means that learning strengthens neural connections in various regions, helping the brain become more resilient and able to fix damage caused by aging or disease, at least for a while. More clues that exercising the brain is important The Rush study cannot prove cause-and-effect: it shows an association between cognitive stimulation and the risk of dementia. Other studies offer similar clues, such as those linking brain health to playing a musical instrument. Another study hinted that brain "speed training" (using an online program that requires detecting images when a screen flickers, increasing distractions) may also help. A study funded by the National Institutes of Health is now examining whether there is any benefit to long-term computerized exercises that aim to improve attention and reaction time. That brain processing speed affects how we multitask or drive, Jessica said.