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 Researchers put 127 elderly people on what they called a brain
fitness regimen for 12 weeks that included meditation training,
cognitive behavior therapy, and education about the Mediterranean
diet, exercise, stress reduction and proper sleep habits.
By the end of the program, 84% of participants experienced
significant improvements in cognitive function, researchers reported
in a paper released online February 5 in the Journal of Prevention
of Alzheimer’s Disease.
Among the random sample of 17 patients who received magnetic
resonance imaging (MRI) scans at the beginning and end of the
program, 12 had either no atrophy during the study or some growth in
brain volume in their hippocampus, the region responsible for
memory.
“You can choose a lifestyle that promotes rapid brain atrophy and
dementia or one that accelerates brain growth and vitality,” said
lead study author Dr. Majid Fotuhi, a researcher at NeuroGrow Brain
Fitness Center in McLean, Virginia, and at Johns Hopkins Medicine.
“You need to decide if you can make choices that will rejuvenate
your brain on a daily basis,” Fotuhi added by email.
Fotuhi and colleagues tested their brain fitness program in a group
of elderly patients who were 71 years old on average.
At the start of the program, patients underwent standardized
neurology evaluations to determine and address any potential medical
causes for memory loss and cognitive impairment such as sleep apnea,
depression or vitamin B12 deficiency.
Every participant also underwent MRI and brain mapping at the start
of the program.
Then each week for the next three months, they all got two hours of
cognitive skills training and neurofeedback therapy, which used
sound and images to prompt the brain’s circuits to work and then to
rest. They also had one hour a week of counseling and coaching on
lifestyle changes that are linked to better brain health.
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Overall, 84% of patients had statistically significant improvements
in at least three out of 10 areas of cognitive function, while
another 9% had significant gains in at least two areas.
Among the subset of people who got follow-up MRIs at the end of the
study, 9 of 17 patients had at least a 1% expansion in the volume of
the hippocampus, enough to dial back the brain’s age by several
years and improve cognitive abilities.
Limitations of the study include the small size, the lack of
randomization or a control group, and the difficulty of determining
which of the many interventions may have been the most beneficial to
cognitive function in elderly patients, the authors note.
“It is not yet proven how such an approach stalled atrophy or
encouraged regrowth as measured by an increased volume,” said Dr.
Dale Bredesen, founding president of the Buck Institute for Research
on Aging and a researcher at the David Geffen School of Medicine at
the University of California, Los Angeles, in an email. Bredesen
wasn’t involved in the study.
Many of the elements of the brain fitness program may have benefits
that go beyond memory or cognitive abilities, said Stephanie
Peabody, a neuropsychologist at Harvard Medical School who wasn’t
involved in the study.
“Brain health is inextricably tied to overall health; those without
injury to the brain and/or thought or mood disorders live a
healthier lifestyle, have fewer chronic diseases and remain
healthier into older age,” Peabody said by email. “Beyond this,
those who optimize lifestyle behaviors including sleep, activity and
nutrition are able to optimize almost all aspects of brain
functioning.”
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/20JQwp8
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