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The Brain Is Like A Muscle:
Use It Or Lose It.
That's the growing conclusion of research that shows
fogged memory and slowed wit are not inevitable consequences
of getting old, and there are steps people can take
to protect their brains. Mental exercise seems crucial.
Benefits start when parents read to tots and depend
heavily on education, but scientists say it's never
too late to start jogging the gray matter.
People have to get physical, too. Bad memory is
linked to heart disease, diabetes and a high fat
diet, all risks people can counter by living healthier
lives. In fact, provocative new research suggests
these brain protective steps, mental and physical,
may be strong enough even to help influence who
gets Alzheimer's disease.
"There are some things that, if you know you
have a family history (of Alzheimer's) and you're
just to 30 years old, you can start doing to increase
your protective factors," said Dr. Amir Soas
of Case Western Reserve University Medical School
in Cleveland. It's also good advice for the average
baby boomer hoping to stay sharp, or the mom priming
her child for a lifelong healthy brain.
Most important: "Read, read, read,"
Soas said. Do crossword puzzles. Pullout the chessboard
or Scrabble. Learn a foreign language or a new hobby.
"Anything that stimulates the brain to think,"
he said. And cut back on TV, Soas insists. "When
you watch television, your brain goes into neutral,"
he said. So much so that Case Western plans to study
whether people who contract Alzheimer's watched
more TV throughout life than healthy seniors.
The stereotype of the forgetful grandma has its
roots in now outdated dogma. Just a few years ago,
scientists believed the brain was wired forever
before age 5, and that over the ensuing decades
a person irrevocably lost neurons and crucial brain
circuitry until eventually mental decline became
noticeable.
Not quite. Scientists now know the brain continually
rewires and adapts itself, even in old age; large
brain cell growth continues into the teen years;
and even the elderly can grow at least some new
neurons. So cognitive decline doesn't have to be
inevitable. Indeed, mental tests given for 10 years
to almost 6,000 older people found 70 percent
maintained brain power as they aged, lead researcher
Mary Haan of the University
of Michigan told an international Alzheimer's meeting
this month.
What keeps brains healthy? Clues come from Alzheimer's
research.
Case Western scientists studied 550 people and
found those less mentally and physically active
in middle age were three times more likely to get
Alzheimer's as they grayed. Particularly protective:
increasing intellectual activity during adulthood.
Numerous studies show people with less education
have higher risks ofAlzheimer's than the better
educated. Haan found less than a ninth grade education
a key threshold; other studies suggest a difference
even between holders of bachelor's and master's
degrees.
It's not just formal education. Reading habits
between ages 6 and 18appear crucial predictors of
cognitive function decades later, said Dr. David
Bennett of Chicago's Rush University. The theory:
Challenge the brain early to build up more "cognitive
reserve" to counter brain damaging disease
later. Bennett is preparing to test that by counting
neurons in autopsied brains.
And remember that brain muscle analogy? Brain scans
show mentally "exercising," which London
cabbies do while navigating without a map or pianists
do when practicing, makes sports important for those
intellectual challenges to grow while less used
regions shrink.
But physical health is important, too. A healthy
brain needs lots of oxygen pumped through healthy
arteries. Haan studied people who have a gene called
ApoE4, which significantly increases the risk of
Alzheimer's. Brain function of gene carriers declined
four times faster with age if they also had hardened
arteries or diabetes. High fat diets increased the
risk seven times, Case Western researchers found.
That means exercising and eating right E28093 the
very things that prevent heart disease and diabetes
helps the brain, too. And Haan said it spotlights
the next research frontier: Testing whether cholesterol
and blood pressure treatments might prevent dementia.
Stay tuned.
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