As people age, they frequently start wondering what they can do to prevent memory and thinking problems, and especially dementia. The good news is that several large studies found that there are a number of lifestyle changes that one can do to have a healthier (memory! thinking!) brain in later years. Even if you are already in your 60s and 70s.
The evidence points to diet (e.g., Mediterranean style diet, ), exercise, and socializing being all important for brain health. In fact, it can result in keeping brains several years "younger" than in those with unhealthy lifestyles. Also, studies find that challenging your brain by learning something new, such as learning a new language or musical instrument or online cognitive training, is beneficial for the brain.
Adopting a lifestyle that promotes brain health is so very important, because it is NORMAL that as we age, there are brain changes, including brain shrinkage (volume of the brain). Therefore you want to slow down or delay these age related changes as much as possible. Researchers feel that adopting these lifestyle changes are so effective that they should be medically prescribed.
Excerpts from NPR: Trying to keep your brain young? A big new study finds these lifestyle changes help
Scientists have unveiled the strongest evidence yet that a combination of diet, exercise and brain training can improve thinking and memory in older Americans.
A study of more than 2,100 sedentary people in their 60s and 70s found that those who spent two years on the intensive regimen not only improved their mental abilities but appeared to reduce the usual declines associated with aging.
"These people are obtaining cognitive function scores that are similar to people [like them who are] one to two years younger than they are," says Laura Baker, one of the study's principal investigators and a professor of gerontology and geriatrics at Wake Forest University School of Medicine.
Results of what's known as the POINTER study were reported at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference in Toronto. They were published simultaneously in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The results are consistent with earlier findings from a smaller Finnish study, which involved a less diverse population. They are also consistent with decades of research suggesting that single interventions, like exercise, could reduce brain and cognitive changes associated with aging.
The POINTER study was limited to people ages 60 to 79 who had normal memory and thinking but were at elevated risk for cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease. "You had to be sedentary, not a regular exerciser, and you had to be consuming a suboptimal diet," Baker says.
Half the participants were asked to come up with their own plan to eat better and exercise more. The other half entered an intensive, highly structured program that included aerobic exercise four times a week, adherence to a heart-healthy Mediterranean diet, online cognitive training, mandatory social activities and monitoring levels of blood pressure and blood sugar.
Both groups improved on tests of memory and cognition, but the intensive group did markedly better.
Though difficult, the intensive regimen was "life-changing" for many participants, Baker says. Most were able to make substantial and lasting changes, thanks to coaching, supervision and lots of encouragement, she says. "There is no way to form a new habit or change behavior without intentional work on a regular basis," Baker says. "It's impossible."
The Alzheimer's Association spent nearly $50 million conducting the POINTER study. The National Institutes of Health spent an even greater amount to have many of the participants undergo brain scans, blood tests and sleep studies that, once published, will provide additional information.