Der Refrain des Songs – „Geh zurück, wo du einmal hingehörtest“ (Get Back To Where You Once Belonged) – könnte genauso gut ein Therapeut sein, der einen Demenzpatienten ermutigt, sich an eine ferne Erinnerung zu erinnern. In einer neuen Forschung versucht Psyche Loui, eine Musikprofessorin, genau das zu tun.

Loui, der in “Scientific Reports” veröffentlicht wurde, fand heraus, dass bei älteren Männern, die einige ihrer Lieblingsmusikstücke hörten, einschließlich der Beatles, die Konnektivität im Gehirn zunahm. Insbesondere entdeckten Loui und ihr multidisziplinäres Team aus Musiktherapeuten, Neurologen und Gerontopsychiatern, dass Musik die Lücke zwischen dem Hörsystem des Gehirns und dem Belohnungssystem, dem Bereich, der die Motivation regelt, überbrückt.

„Es gibt etwas an Musik, das ist diese funktionelle Verbindung zwischen dem Hör- und Belohnungssystem, und deshalb ist Musik so besonders und in der Lage, diese scheinbar sehr allgemeinen kognitiven Funktionen anzuzapfen, die bei Männern mit Demenz, die Musik hören, plötzlich sehr beschäftigt sind.“ sagte Loui, der das “Music Imaging and Neural Dynamics Lab” leitet.

Die ursprüngliche Idee für diese Forschung entstand aus Louis eigenen Erfahrungen mit dem Musizieren in Pflegeheimen. Sie erinnerte sich, wie Menschen, die einen Satz oder Gedanken nicht beenden konnten, plötzlich zu einem Lied harmonierten und mitsangen, das sie spielte.

„Musik scheint das Gehirn auf diese Weise zu beschäftigen, die anders ist als alles andere“, sagte Loui.

Die Forscher ließen eine Gruppe älterer Erwachsener im Alter zwischen 54 und 89 Jahren aus der Gegend von Boston acht Wochen lang jeden Tag eine Stunde lang eine Playlist anhören und danach ihre Reaktion auf die Musik protokollieren. Loui und das Team scannten die Gehirne der Teilnehmer vor und nach dem Zuhören, um ihre neurologische Reaktion zu messen.

Die Playlists waren hochgradig personalisiert und enthielten eine Kombination aus den selbst ausgewählten Songs der Teilnehmer, die von den Beatles bis Bruce Springsteen reichten, und einer vorab ausgewählten Mischung aus klassischen Stücken, Pop- und Rocksongs. Die Teilnehmer bewerteten dann jedes Lied danach, wie gut es ihnen gefiel und wie vertraut es war.

„Die wichtigste Lektion, die wir vom Musiktherapeuten gelernt haben, war, dass es keine Einheitslösung dafür gibt, welche Art von Musik am besten funktioniert“, sagte Loui.

Was die Forscher herausfanden, war bemerkenswert: Musik schuf im Wesentlichen einen Hörkanal direkt zum medialen präfrontalen Kortex, dem Belohnungszentrum des Gehirns.

Insbesondere der mediale präfrontale Cortex ist einer der Bereiche, der bei alternden Männern, insbesondere bei Menschen mit Demenz, seine Aktivität und funktionelle Konnektivität verliert.

Musik, die sowohl vertraut als auch beliebt war, aktivierte tendenziell die Hör- und Belohnungsbereiche mehr. Eine noch stärkere Verbindung zwischen diesen beiden Hirnarealen stellte jedoch die von den Teilnehmern selbst ausgewählte Musik her.

„Dies könnte der zentrale Mechanismus dafür sein, welche Veränderungen im Gehirn passieren, wenn Sie Musik hören und wenn Sie im Verlauf einer Intervention konsequent, ausdauernd und achtsam Musik hören“, sagte Loui.

Loui hofft, dass diese Studie, die eine der ersten ist, die neurologische Veränderungen durch längere Exposition gegenüber musikbasierter Intervention dokumentiert, einen signifikanten Einfluss auf einen Bereich haben könnte, der schnell an Bedeutung gewonnen hat.

Das National Institute of Health treibt derzeit Initiativen rund um die Musiktherapie voran, und der Global Council on Brain Health (US. American Association of Retired Persons) der AARP hat kürzlich ein Gremium einberufen, dem Loui angehörte, um Beweise für den Einfluss von Musik auf die Gesundheit des Gehirns zu untersuchen.

Musik scheint das Gehirn auf diese einzigartige Weise zu beschäftigen, die anders ist als alles andere.

Dieses Bild ist copyright-frei – bezogen von pexels.com

Das Gremium formulierte schließlich Empfehlungen, wie Menschen ab 50 Jahren Musik in ihr Leben integrieren können, um das geistige Wohlbefinden zu fördern.

Die Fähigkeit von Musik, ältere Erwachsene und Menschen mit psychischen Erkrankungen zu beruhigen, ist gut dokumentiert, sagte Loui; Weniger bekannt ist jedoch, wie und inwieweit Musik dabei helfen kann, das Gedächtnis, die Kognition und die Exekutivfunktion zu verbessern.

„Daran arbeiten wir gerade, und ich denke, es könnte etwas an der Tatsache liegen, dass Musik eine Kunst ist, die sich im Laufe der Zeit entfaltet“, sagte Loui.

„Zum Beispiel hörst du auf einen Beat und kannst dann mit den Zehen zum Beat wippen. Diese Art von Prozess beschäftigt die Belohnungssysteme und kognitiven Systeme des Gehirns auf eine Weise, die für langfristige kognitive Funktionen von Vorteil sein könnte.“

In Zukunft hofft Loui, ihre Studie auf ältere Erwachsene mit kognitiven und neurodegenerativen Störungen auszudehnen, Menschen, die möglicherweise noch mehr von den Effekten der Musiktherapie profitieren.

„Wir versuchen, diese neuen Therapien so zu gestalten, dass sie sich die rhythmischen Eigenschaften von Musik und die rhythmischen Eigenschaften des Gehirns zunutze machen“, sagte Loui, „und die Abstimmung neuronaler Populationen auf die akustischen Signale der Musik könnte zur Verbesserung nützlich sein Erkenntnis.”

Neuigkeiten aus der Musik- und Gedächtnisforschung:

Autor: Cody Mello-Klein
Quelle: Northeastern University
Bild: Die Bilder sind copyright befreit – bezogen von pexels.com

das Get Back-Video ist von YouTube

Der Original Artikel erschien in Neurscience News.  HIER anklicken zum Original

The song’s refrain—”Get back to where you once belonged”—might as well be a therapist encouraging a dementia patient to recall a distant memory. In new research, Psyche Loui, an associate professor of music, is attempting to do exactly that.

Published in Scientific Reports, Loui found that for older men who listened to some of their favorite music, including The Beatles, connectivity in the brain increased. Specifically, Loui—and her multi-disciplinary team of music therapists, neurologists and geriatric psychiatrists—discovered that music bridged the gap between the brain’s auditory system and reward system, the area that governs motivation.

“There’s something about music that is this functional connectivity between the auditory and reward system, and that’s why music is so special and able to tap into these seemingly very general cognitive functions that are suddenly very engaged in men with dementia who are hearing music,” said Loui, who directs the Music Imaging and Neural Dynamics Lab.

The original idea for this research came out of Loui’s own experiences playing music in nursing homes. She recalled how people who couldn’t finish a sentence or thought would suddenly harmonize and sing along to a song she was playing.

“[Music] seems to engage the brain in this way that’s different than everything else,” Loui said.

The researchers had a group of older adults between the ages of 54 and 89 from the Boston area listen to a playlist for an hour every day for eight weeks and journal about their response to the music afterward. Loui and the team would scan the participants’ brains before and after listening in order to measure their neurological response.

Playlists were highly personalized and featured a combination of the participants’ self-selected songs, which ranged from The Beatles to Bruce Springsteen, and a pre-selected mix of classical pieces, pop and rock songs. Participants would then rate each song based on how much they liked it and how familiar it was.

“The most important lesson that we learned from the music therapist was that there is no one-size-fits-all for what kind of music works best,” Loui said.

What the researchers found was striking: Music was essentially creating an auditory channel directly to the medial prefrontal cortex, the brain’s reward center.

Notably, the medial prefrontal cortex is one of the areas to lose its activity and functional connectivity in aging men, especially in folks with dementia.

Music that was both familiar and well-liked tended to activate the auditory and reward areas more. However, the music that participants selected themselves provided an even stronger connection between these two areas of the brain.

“This might be the central mechanism for what changes happen in the brain when you’re listening to music and when you’re consistently, persistently and mindfully listening to music over the course of an intervention,” Loui said.

Loui hopes this study, which is one of the first to document neurological changes from extended exposure to music-based intervention, could have a significant impact in a field that has quickly risen in prominence.

The National Institute of Health is currently pushing initiatives around music therapy, and AARP’s Global Council on Brain Health (US. American Association of Retired Persons) recently convened a panel, which Loui served on, to examine evidence of music’s influence on brain health.

Music seems to engage the brain in this very unique way that’s different than everything else.

Image is in the public domain – sourced from pexels.com

The panel ultimately formed recommendations for how people ages 50 and over can incorporate music into their lives to promote mental wellness.

Music’s ability to calm older adults and people with mental illness is well-documented, Loui said; but what’s less known is how and to what extent music can help improve memory, cognition and executive function.

“That’s something we’re working on right now, and I think there might be something about the fact that music is an art that unfolds over time,” Loui said.

“For example, you’re listening for a beat and then you can tap your toes to the beat. That kind of process engages the brain’s reward systems and cognitive systems in ways that might be beneficial for long-term cognitive functions.”

Moving forward, Loui hopes to extend her study to older adults who have cognitive and neurodegenerative disorders, people who might benefit even more from the effects of music therapy.

“We’re trying to design these new therapies to take advantage of the rhythmic properties of music and the rhythmic properties of the brain,” Loui said, “and the tuning of neural populations towards the acoustic signals of the music might be useful for improving cognition.”

About this music and memory research news

Author: Cody Mello-Klein
Source: Northeastern University
Image: The images are in the public domain – sourced from pexels.com

Get Back Video from YouTube

Original Research: Open access.
“Longitudinal changes in auditory and reward systems following receptive music-based intervention in older adults” by Milena Aiello Quinci et al. Scientific Reports

The original article was published on Neuroscience News, to read the original CLICK HERE

Summary: Older adults who received at least one flu vaccination were 40% less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease over the course of a four-year follow-up than their peers who did not receive a vaccine.

People who received at least one influenza vaccine were 40% less likely than their non-vaccinated peers to develop Alzheimer’s disease over the course of four years, according to a new study from UTHealth Houston.

Research led by first author Avram S. Bukhbinder, MD, a recent alumnus of McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, and senior author Paul. E. Schulz, MD, the Rick McCord Professor in Neurology at McGovern Medical School, compared the risk of Alzheimer’s disease incidence between patients with and without prior flu vaccination in a large nationwide sample of U.S. adults aged 65 and older.

An early online version of the paper detailing the findings is available in advance of its publication in the Aug. 2 issue of the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.

Regular annual booster vaccinations improve protection

“We found that flu vaccination in older adults reduces the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease for several years. The strength of this protective effect increased with the number of years that a person received an annual flu vaccine—in other words, the rate of developing Alzheimer’s was lowest among those who consistently received the flu vaccine every year,” said Bukhbinder, who is still part of Schulz’s research team while in his first year of residency with the Division of Child Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital.

“Future research should assess whether flu vaccination is also associated with the rate of symptom progression in patients who already have Alzheimer’s dementia.”

The study—which comes two years after UTHealth Houston researchers found a possible link between the flu vaccine and reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease—analyzed a much larger sample than previous research, including 935,887 flu-vaccinated patients and 935,887 non-vaccinated patients.

During four-year follow-up appointments, about 5.1% of flu-vaccinated patients were found to have developed Alzheimer’s disease. Meanwhile, 8.5% of non-vaccinated patients had developed Alzheimer’s disease during follow-up.

These results underscore the strong protective effect of the flu vaccine against Alzheimer’s disease, according to Bukhbinder and Schulz. However, the underlying mechanisms behind this process require further study.

“Since there is evidence that several vaccines may protect from Alzheimer’s disease, we are thinking that it isn’t a specific effect of the flu vaccine,” said Schulz, who is also the Umphrey Family Professor in Neurodegenerative Diseases and director of the Neurocognitive Disorders Center at McGovern Medical School.

“Instead, we believe that the immune system is complex, and some alterations, such as pneumonia, may activate it in a way that makes Alzheimer’s disease worse. But other things that activate the immune system may do so in a different way—one that protects from Alzheimer’s disease. Clearly, we have more to learn about how the immune system worsens or improves outcomes in this disease.”

Alzheimer’s disease affects more than 6 million people living in the U.S. In Europe alone, as of 2018, 9.7 million people suffer from Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. By 2030, the number of patients is projected to rise to 14 million, and the cost of treating them will grow to €250 billion.

The number of affected individuals is growing due to the Western nation’s aging population. Past studies have found a decreased risk of dementia associated with prior exposure to various adulthood vaccinations, including those for tetanus, polio, and herpes, in addition to the flu vaccine and others.

Additionally, as more time passes since the introduction of the COVID-19 vaccine and longer follow-up data becomes available, Bukhbinder said it will be worth investigating whether a similar association exists between COVID-19 vaccination and the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.

Original Research: Open access.
“Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease Following Influenza Vaccination: A Claims-Based Cohort Study Using Propensity Score Matching” by Avram S. Bukhbinder et al. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease

The Imperial College London reports that a neuroimaging-based machine learning algorithm can detect Alzheimer’s in the brain with 98% accuracy. The system is also 79% accurate at determining which stage of Alzheimer’s disease a patient has.

The research uses machine learning technology to look at structural features within the brain, including in regions not previously associated with Alzheimer’s. The advantage of the technique is its simplicity and the fact that it can identify the disease at an early stage when it can be very difficult to diagnose.

Although there is no cure for Alzheimer’s disease, getting a diagnosis quickly at an early stage helps patients. It allows them to access help and support, get treatment to manage their symptoms and plan for the future. Being able to accurately identify patients at an early stage of the disease will also help researchers to understand the brain changes that trigger the disease, and support development and trials of new treatments.

The research is published in Communications Medicine, and funded through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Imperial Biomedical Research Centre.

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia, affecting over 6 million people in the US. Although most people with Alzheimer’s disease develop it after the age of 65, people under this age can develop it too. The most frequent symptoms of dementia are memory loss and difficulties with thinking, problem solving and language.

Doctors currently use a raft of tests to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease, including memory and cognitive tests and brain scans. The scans are used to check for protein deposits in the brain and shrinkage of the hippocampus, the area of the brain linked to memory. All of these tests can take several weeks, both to arrange and to process.

The new approach requires just one of these – a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain scan taken on a standard 1.5 Tesla machine, which is commonly found in most hospitals.

The researchers adapted an algorithm developed for use in classifying cancer tumors, and applied it to the brain. They divided the brain into 115 regions and allocated 660 different features, such as size, shape and texture, to assess each region. They then trained the algorithm to identify where changes to these features could accurately predict the existence of Alzheimer’s disease.

Using data from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, the team tested their approach on brain scans from over 400 patients with early and later-stage Alzheimer’s, healthy controls and patients with other neurological conditions, including frontotemporal dementia and Parkinson’s disease. They also tested it with data from over 80 patients undergoing diagnostic tests for Alzheimer’s at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust.

They found that in 98 percent of cases, the MRI-based machine learning system alone could accurately predict whether the patient had Alzheimer’s disease or not. It was also able to distinguish between early and late-stage Alzheimer’s with fairly high accuracy, in 79 percent of patients.

Professor Eric Aboagye, from Imperial’s Department of Surgery and Cancer, who led the research, said: “Currently no other simple and widely available methods can predict Alzheimer’s disease with this level of accuracy, so our research is an important step forward. Many patients who present with Alzheimer’s at memory clinics do also have other neurological conditions, but even within this group our system could pick out those patients who had Alzheimer’s from those who did not.

Although most people with Alzheimer’s disease develop it after the age of 65, people under this age can develop it too. Image is in the public domain

“Waiting for a diagnosis can be a horrible experience for patients and their families. If we could cut down the amount of time they have to wait, make diagnosis a simpler process, and reduce some of the uncertainty, that would help a great deal. Our new approach could also identify early-stage patients for clinical trials of new drug treatments or lifestyle changes, which is currently very hard to do.”

The new system spotted changes in areas of the brain not previously associated with Alzheimer’s disease, including the cerebellum (the part of the brain that coordinates and regulates physical activity) and the ventral diencephalon (linked to the senses, sight and hearing). This opens up potential new avenues for research into these areas and their links to Alzheimer’s disease.

Dr Paresh Malhotra, who is a consultant neurologist at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and a researcher in Imperial’s Department of Brain Sciences, said: “Although neuroradiologists already interpret MRI scans to help diagnose Alzheimer’s, there are likely to be features of the scans that aren’t visible, even to specialists.

“Using an algorithm able to select texture and subtle structural features in the brain that are affected by Alzheimer’s could really enhance the information we can gain from standard imaging techniques.”

Nearly all men aged between 50 and 80 report experiencing ageism in their everyday lives, however, those with health conditions experience “everyday ageism” at higher rates.

Nearly all mature men have experienced some form of ageism in their everyday lives, a new study from the University of Michigan finds — whether it’s seeing ageist messages and images on television or the internet, encountering people who imply that they’re less capable just because they’re older, or believing stereotypes about aging.

Older men with more health concerns, though, appear most likely to have experienced this kind of “everyday ageism”, according to new findings published by a team from the University of Oklahoma, Norman and the University of Michigan. The data, from a survey of more than 2,000 people between ages of 50 and 80, come from the National Poll on Healthy Aging.

The higher a man’s score on the Everyday Ageism Scale of daily ageism experiences, the more likely they were to be in poor physical or mental health, to have more chronic health conditions, or to show signs of depression.

The Everyday Ageism Scale was validated and published last year and calculates a score based on an individual’s answers to 10 questions about their own experiences and beliefs regarding aging.

In all, 93% of the older men surveyed said they regularly experienced at least one of the 10 forms of ageism. The most common one, experienced by nearly 80%, was agreeing with the statement that “having health problems is part of getting older” – even though 83% of the men surveyed described their own health as good or very good. This kind of “internalized” ageism also included agreeing with the statements that feeling lonely, or feeling depressed, sad or worried, are part of getting older.

Worse still, 65% of the older men said they regularly see, hear or read jokes about older men, or messages that older men are unattractive or undesirable. This is particularly upsetting in the context of racial abuse hurled at pale skinned men for being “irrelevant old white men”.

Another class of ageist experiences – which the researchers call interpersonal ageism – was reported as a regular occurrence by 45% of men. These included experiences involving another person, where the older person felt it was assumed that they were having trouble with using technology, seeing, hearing, understanding, remembering, or doing something independently – or that they don’t do anything valuable.

The researchers calculated Everyday Ageism scores for every one of the more than 2,000 poll respondents, based on their responses to all the poll questions.

The overall average score was just over 10. As a group, men who were ages 65 to 80 scored over 11, indicating more ageism experiences those men between ages 50-64.

Men who had lower levels of income or education, and those who lived in rural areas, also had average ageism scores that were higher than others. Older men who reported spending four hours or more every day watching television, browsing the internet or reading magazines had higher scores than those with less exposure to such media.

The researchers then looked at each man’s individual score in light of what they had said about their own health, including self-rated physical and mental health, number of chronic health conditions and report of depression symptoms.

They found a close link between higher scores and all four health-related measures. That is, men who reported higher Everyday Ageism scores were more likely to have reported that their overall physical health or overall mental health were fair or poor, more chronic health conditions, and depression symptoms.

A lot of this linkage had to do with internalized ageism measures – the questions that measured how strongly a man agreed with the statements about health problems, loneliness and sadness being part of getting older. But experiences with the interpersonal forms of ageism were also linked to health-related measures, as were some aspects of ageist messages.

The fact that those men who said they’d felt the most forms of ageism were also more likely to say their physical or mental health was fair or poor, or to have a chronic condition such as diabetes or heart disease, is something that needs more examination.

The data on which the new study is based are available HERE

Egal wie schlecht Deine Lebensgewohnheiten sind, es ist nie zu spät, mit einem gesunden Lebenswandel zu beginnen, und Du Kannst dabei ein Jahrzehnt dazu gewinnen – denn es gibt noch viel zu leben nach 60, und mit ein paar kleinen, aber wichtigen Veränderungen kannst Du noch das Beste daraus machen.

Wenn wir ein bestimmtes Alter erreichen, ist es verständlich anzunehmen, dass sich unsere Gesundheit in eine Richtung entwickelt, und es ist mit ziemlicher Sicherheit keine positive. Der Weg ins hohe Alter scheint mit Elend und Demütigung übersät zu sein: Herzkrankheiten, Gelenkprobleme, kognitive Probleme. Wir rutschen scheinbar zwangsläufig in den „Abstieg“.

Aber eine wachsende Zahl von Forschungsergebnissen beweist inzwischen, dass dies nicht unbedingt der Fall sein muss. Eine große Studie von John Hopkins legt nahe, dass die Umstellung auf eine gesündere Ernährung selbst in Deinen „Goldenen“ Jahren Dein Leben um ein Jahrzehnt verlängern kann.

Verlängere Dein Leben nach 60!

Diese Studie der Johns Hopkins University in den Vereinigten Staaten hat mehr als 6000 Menschen im Alter von 44 bis 84 Jahren über mehr als sieben Jahre hinweg verfolgt.

Diejenigen, die positive Veränderungen vorgenommen haben, wie z. B. das Rauchen aufzugeben, eine mediterrane Ernährung zu befolgen, sich regelmäßig zu bewegen und ein gesundes Gewicht zu halten, verringerten ihr Sterberisiko in diesem Zeitraum um spektakuläre 80 Prozent.

Zusätzlich haben in einer neuen Studie Wissenschaftler der Universität Bergen in Norwegen gezeigt, dass durch den Verzicht auf eine „durchschnittliche“ Ernährung – eine mit hohem Anteil an verarbeiteten Lebensmitteln, insbesondere rotem und verarbeitetem Fleisch – eine „optimale“ Ernährung mit viel Getreide und Hülsenfrüchten und Nüsse im Alter von 60 Jahren Dein Leben um fast 10 Jahre verlängern kann. Selbst ein Wechsel mit 80 Jahren kann die Lebenserwartung um drei Jahre verlängern, fanden die Forscher heraus.

Selbst wenn Du ein ungesundes Leben mit wenig Gemüse geführt hast, ist es möglicherweise noch nicht zu spät, eine Änderung vorzunehmen.

Diese neue Forschung folgt einer Studie der Universität Glasgow aus dem Jahr 2016, die ergab, dass der Verzehr von zu viel rotem Fleisch und zu wenig Obst und Gemüse das „biologische Alter“ des Körpers erhöhen und zu Gesundheitsproblemen beitragen kann.

Wissenschaftler fanden heraus, dass ein moderater Anstieg des Serumphosphatspiegels im Körper, der durch den Verzehr von rotem Fleisch und eine schlechte Gesamternährung verursacht wird, Dein biologisches Alter aufgrund von Zellschäden erhöht.

Wie kannst Du Biologisch Jung Bleiben?

Es ist schwierig, Menschen genau zu raten, was sie in welchem Jahrzehnt [des Lebens] tun sollen, da wir uns in unserem Hintergrund und unserer allgemeinen Gesundheit so sehr unterscheiden. Aber wahr ist, dass Du Dein chronologisches Alter übertreffen kannst, indem Du Verhaltensweisen folgst, die Dich biologisch jung halten.

Menschen in ihren 40ern und 50ern sollten sich darauf konzentrieren, solide Freundschaften aufzubauen, denn wir neigen nicht dazu, später im Leben neue Leute kennenzulernen. Für jedes Jahr nach dem 60. Lebensjahr solltest du etwas mehr Sport treiben als im Jahr zuvor.

Und versuche in jedem Alter, Deine Kalorien einzuschränken – viel stärker als in jüngeren Jahren.

All diese Prinzipien gelten natürlich genauso ab dem 60. Lebensjahr, sogar bis zum Alter von 80 oder über 90 Jahren.

Du Kannst Dich Selbst Mit 90 Jahren Noch verändern!

Tatsächlich ist es genau dann, wenn die Leute sich sagen, dass es zu spät ist, sich zu ändern, das ist absolut der Zeitpunkt, an dem du anfangen musst. Dein Körper hat immer noch die Fähigkeit, sich zu verändern und zu erneuern, selbst in Deinen 60ern und 70ern – tatsächlich sogar bis zu Deinen 90ern.

Diese neue Forschung stimmt sehr gut mit dem überein, was wir seit vielen Jahren aus den fünf ‚blauen‘ Gebieten des Planeten wissen.

Wissenschaftler haben lange die gesündesten Orte zum Leben identifiziert – Okinawa in Japan; Sardinien, Italien; Nicoya, Costa Rica; Ikaria, Griechenland; und Loma Linda in Kalifornien.

Was diese Gebiete gemeinsam haben, ist eine fischreiche Ernährung, da sie alle am Meer liegen. Die Bewohner essen auch viele pflanzliche Lebensmittel und haben stressabbauende Rituale in ihren Tag eingebaut.

Während wir keine Wahl haben, wo wir geboren wurden, ist die gute Nachricht, dass wir von den Gewohnheiten der ewig Jungen lernen können: Es gibt Dinge, die Du heute tun kannst, um den Alterungsprozess aufzuhalten oder sogar umzukehren.

Hier sind die besten 7 Tips, die Du in Deinen 60ern und späteren Jahren tun kannst, um Dir ein längeres Leben zu garantieren.

1. Iss wie die Bewohner am Mittelmeer

Eines der besten Dinge, die wir tun können, um länger zu leben, besteht darin, rotes und verarbeitetes Fleisch zu reduzieren oder zu streichen und eine mediterrane Ernährung zu befolgen.

Eine Vielzahl von Studien bestätigt die gesundheitlichen Vorteile einer mediterranen Ernährung aus Vollkorn, Obst, Gemüse, Fisch und Muscheln, Bohnen, Nüssen und Olivenöl ohne Zucker oder gesättigte Lebensmittel.

2. Vermeide rotes Fleisch

Es hat sich wiederholt gezeigt, dass verarbeitetes Fleisch wie Würstchen und Speck zu einer schnelleren Alterung führt. Untersuchungen aus China deuten darauf hin, dass diese Lebensmittel die Hauptursachen für Herz-Kreislauf-Erkrankungen, Krebs, Atemwegserkrankungen und neurodegenerative Erkrankungen sind.

Eine Erhöhung des gesamten Verzehrs von rotem und verarbeitetem Fleisch um 3½ Portionen pro Woche oder mehr über einen Zeitraum von acht Jahren ist klar verbunden mit 10 Prozent höherem Sterberisiko in den folgenden acht Jahren.

Verarbeitetes Fleisch kann auch das Schlafmuster unterbrechen, da es einen hohen Gehalt an Tyramin enthält, einer Aminosäure, die die Wachsamkeit des Gehirns auslöst.

Der Verzehr von fettem Fisch wie Lachs, Thunfisch oder Sardinen soll jedoch helfen, Demenz, Prostatakrebs und altersbedingtem Sehverlust vorzubeugen.

3. Iss weniger … und seltener

Kalorienreduzierter Diät bedeutet eine Verringerung der Anzahl der Kalorien, die Du in einem Zeitraum von 24 Stunden zu Dir nimmst.

Eine Untersuchung der Newcastle University aus dem Jahr 2011 unter der Leitung von Professor Roy Taylor führte dazu, die Behandlung von Typ-2-Diabetes zu revolutionieren, nachdem die bahnbrechende Studie gezeigt hatte, dass die Krankheit durch schnellen Gewichtsverlust rückgängig gemacht werden konnte.

Bis zur Veröffentlichung von Taylors Forschung galt Typ-2-Diabetes als unheilbare, lebenslange Erkrankung: Die Patienten in seiner Studie ernährten sich restriktiv und viele benötigten keine Medikamente mehr.

Es kann auch hilfreich sein, alle Mahlzeiten in einem Acht-Stunden-Fenster zu essen, da es den Blutzucker senkt und altersbedingte Entzündungen verringert.

Eine im International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health veröffentlichte Studie darüber, wie Frauen nach der Menopause auf zeitlich begrenztes Essen reagieren, zeigte, dass diejenigen, die 16 Stunden lang oder von 20 Uhr bis Mittag des folgenden Tages auf Nahrung verzichteten, eine Verringerung des Körpergewichts (1,4 kg) und der Fettmasse im Vergleich zur Kontrollgruppe aufzeigten.

4. Pflege Deinen Darm

Studien zum Mikrobiom – den Bakterien und anderen Mikroben, die in unserem Darm leben – zeigen, dass es für unser Immunsystem, unser Herz und unser Gewicht von entscheidender Bedeutung ist.

Die Forschung zeigt, dass es möglich ist, die Vielfalt des Darmmikrobioms innerhalb von 72 Stunden nach einer Änderung unserer Ernährungsgewohnheiten zu verändern, und das in jedem Alter.

Konzentriere Dich auf einen Teller mit stark gefärbten Speisen: Himbeeren, Weintrauben und eingelegte Speisen wie Sauerkraut oder Kimchi.

5. Reduziere deinen Alkohol Konsum

Wenn Du deinen Alkoholkonsum reduzierst, bleibst du zwangsläufig jünger.

Zu viel Alkohol stört Deinen Schlaf und senkt die Stimmung, weniger Alkohol schützt Dich aber auch vor chronischeren Zellveränderungen, die zu Krebs führen oder Deine Muskeln beeinträchtigen und dein Gleichgewicht stören können.

Es besteht jedoch keine Notwendigkeit, total abstinent zu werden. Studien zum Gesundheitsverhalten haben die Vorteile eines moderaten Rotweinkonsums gezeigt – nicht mehr als zwei Gläser pro Tag – und nur in Gesellschaft.

Trinke niemals alleine, sonst konsumierst Du möglicherweise mehr.

Eine alkoholbedingte Lebererkrankung im ersten Stadium ist nach nur zwei Wochen vollständig reversibel. Der Verzicht auf Alkohol für diesen Zeitraum gibt der Leber Zeit, sich zu erholen, Fettablagerungen abzubauen und die Entzündung zu stoppen – solange Du Dch an die medizinischen Richtlinien von nicht mehr als 14 Einheiten pro Woche, verteilt auf einige Tage, mit zwei oder drei aufeinanderfolgenden Alkoholfreien Tagen hälst.

6. Es ist nie zu spät, fitter zu werden

Laut einer Studie des National Cancer Institute in den USA aus dem Jahr 2019 ist es für Dich genauso gut, in der Lebensmitte aktiv zu werden, als wenn Du mit jungen Jahren anfängst, Fitnesstraining zu betreiben. Wenn es darum geht, das Risiko eines frühen Todes zu verringern hilft körperliche Aktivität in jedem Alter.

Aber die Vorteile nehmen ab, sobald Du mit dem Training aufhörst.

„Wenn Du in diesem Zeitfenster [von der Jugend bis zum mittleren Alter] einen aktiven Lebensstil beibehälst oder an irgendeiner Art von Bewegung teilnimmst, kannst Du deine Lebenserwartung verlängern“, sagt Dr. Pedro Saint-Maurice, Hauptautor der Studie des Krebs Instituts.

„Wenn Du nicht aktiv bist und in die 40er bis 50er Jahre kommst und Dich entscheidest, aktiv zu werden, kannst Du Trotzdem dennoch viele dieser Vorteile genießen.“

Aber auch die Art der Fitness Übungen ist wichtig.

Die meisten Menschen kennen die Vorteile von Aerobic-Übungen, aber Widerstandsübungen (mit Gewichten) sind vielmals wichtiger, um Knochen und Muskeln stark zu halten.

Untersuchungen aus Australien und Nigeria haben gezeigt, dass es zu erheblichen Kraftsteigerungen führen kann, wenn Du nur drei Sekunden pro Tag mit einem „exzentrischen“ Bizepscurl verbringst – also langsam ein freies Gewicht bis unter Deine Taille streckst.

Wenn es um Aerobic-Übungen geht, strebe mehr als 150 Minuten pro Woche an. Zügiges Gehen ist perfekt, und sitz nie länger als 45 Minuten am Stück still.

7. Begrenz die Nickerchen

Mit zunehmendem Alter verändert sich unser Schlafmuster. Unsere Nächte sind unruhiger, wir schlafen kürzer und wachen früher auf. Es ist daher nicht verwunderlich, dass wir den Drang verspüren, mehr Nickerchen zu machen.

Es ist in Ordnung, höchstens 20 Minuten lang ein Nickerchen zu machen, aber niemals nach 15 Uhr, sonst stört es Deinen circadianen Rhythmus.

Das wird deine Energie rauben und dich müde und viel älter fühlen lassen. Schlafentzug ist vollständig reversibel: Habe eine Reihe guter Nächte, und Dein Wohlbefinden kehrt zurück.

Mit diesen ausgezeichneten 7 Tips kannst Du Dein Leben verlängern.

Und du kannst zusätzlich deine Lebensqualität verbessern.

Ein längeres leben von höherer Qualität – wer will das nicht.

Es bleibt Dir selbst überlassen, das Beste daraus zu machen und Dir diese Vorschläge zu Herzen zu nehmen und zu befolgen – oder wie bisher zu ignorieren.

Du hast die Wahl.

Jetzt kannst Du Dich nicht mehr auf Unwissenheit als Ausrede berufen, wenn du zu faul oder zu bequem bist, diese Ideen umzustzen.

Die Fakten sprechen eindeutig für sich, da braucht es eigentlich keine Überredung mehr, oder?

Schau öfter mal bei Mennshealthiness.com vorbei, um mehr Tips über Gesundheits und Lebensqualität zu bekommen.

Schick mir gerne eine Nachricht, ob Dir diese Folge hier auf Deutsch gefallen hat, dann übersetze ich gerne noch die anderen Artikel. Du kannst mir eine Nachricht durch die Kontakt Funktion der webseite schicken.

Ich freue mich darauf, von Dir zu hören. Tschüss bis zum nächsten Mal!

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No matter how bad your lifestyle choices are, it’s never too late to start healthy living, and you could gain a decade in the process – because there’s still a lot to live after 60, and with a few small but important changes, you can still make the best of it.

When we reach a certain age, it’s understandable to assume that our health will go in one direction, and it’s almost certainly not a positive one. The road to old age seems littered with misery and humiliation: heart disease, joint problems, cognitive problems. We seem to be inevitably slipping into “descent”.

But a growing body of research now shows that this is not necessarily the case. A major study by John Hopkins suggests that even in your sunset years, switching to a healthier diet can add a decade to your life.

Add Years to your Life – Even after 60!

A recent study from Johns Hopkins University in the United States tracked more than 6,000 people aged 44 to 84 for more than seven years. Those who have made positive changes, such as quitting smoking, following a Mediterranean diet, exercising regularly and maintaining a healthy weight reduced their risk of death by a spectacular 80 percent over this period.

In a new study, scientists at the University of Bergen in Norway have shown that by avoiding an “average” diet – one high in processed foods, especially red and processed meat – and instead having an “optimal” diet high in grains and legumes and nuts can add almost 10 years to your life at the age of 60. Even switching at age 80 can extend life expectancy by three years, the researchers found.

Even if you’ve always followed an unhealthy diet for most of your life low in vegetables, it may not be too late to make a change.

This new research follows a 2016 University of Glasgow study that found that eating too much red meat and not enough fruits and vegetables can increase the body’s “biological age” and contribute to health problems. Scientists found that moderate increases in serum phosphate levels in the body, caused by eating red meat and a poor overall diet, increase your biological age due to cellular damage.

How You Can Stay Biologically Young

It’s difficult to advise people exactly what to do in which decade [of life] since we differ so much in our backgrounds and overall health. But the truth is, you can surpass your chronological age by following behaviors that keep you biologically young.

People in their 40s and 50s should focus on building solid friendships because we don’t tend to meet new people later in life. For every year after age 60, you should exercise a little more than you did the year before. And try to limit your calories at any age – again more so than when you were younger.

Of course, all these principles also apply from the age of 60, even up to the age of 80 or over 90 years.

You can still Change At Age 90!

In fact, when we tell ourselves it’s too late to change, that’s absolutely when you need to start. Your body still has the ability to change and renew, even in your 60’s and 70’s – in fact even into your 90’s.

This new research agrees very well with what we have known from the five ‘blue’ areas of the planet for many years.

Scientists have long identified the healthiest places to live — Okinawa in Japan; Sardinia, Italy; Nicoya, Costa Rica; Icaria, Greece; and Loma Linda in California.

What these ‘blue’ areas have in common is a diet rich in fish, as they are all seaside. Residents also eat a lot of plant-based foods and have incorporated stress-relieving rituals into their day.

While we don’t have a choice about where we were born, the good news is that we can learn from the habits of the forever young: there are things you can do today to halt or even reverse the aging process.

Here are seven healthy tips you can do in your 60s and beyond to ensure you live longer:

1. Eat like the people of the Mediterranean

One of the best things we can do to live longer is to reduce or eliminate red and processed meat and follow a Mediterranean diet.

A multitude of studies confirm the health benefits of a Mediterranean diet of whole grains , fruits, vegetables, fish and shellfish, beans, nuts and olive oil without sugar or saturated foods.

2. Avoid red meat

Processed meats like sausage and bacon have been shown repeatedly to cause faster aging. Research from China suggests that these foods are the main causes of cardiovascular disease, cancer, respiratory diseases and neurodegenerative diseases.

An increase in total red and processed meat consumption by 3½ servings per week or more over an eight-year period is clearly associated with a 10 percent higher risk of death over the next eight years.

Processed meats can also disrupt sleep patterns because they contain high levels of tyramine, an amino acid that triggers the brain’s alertness.

However, eating oily fish like salmon, tuna, or sardines is said to help prevent dementia, prostate cancer, and age-related vision loss.

3. Eat less… and less often

Calorie restricted dieting means reducing the number of calories you eat in a 24 hour period.

A 2011 Newcastle University study led by Professor Roy Taylor set to revolutionize the treatment of type 2 diabetes after the landmark study showed the disease could be reversed with rapid weight loss.

Until Taylor’s research was published, type 2 diabetes was considered an incurable, lifelong disease: the patients in his study ate restrictively and subsequently many no longer required medication.

Eating all meals within an eight-hour window can also be helpful as it lowers blood sugar and reduces age-related inflammation.

A study on how postmenopausal women respond to time-restricted eating, published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, showed that those who abstained from food for 16 hours, or from 8 p.m. to noon the following day, experienced a reduction in body weight (1.4 kg) and fat mass compared to the control group.

4. Feed your gut

Studies on the microbiome — the bacteria and other microbes that live in our gut — show it’s critical to our immune system, heart, and weight.

Research shows that it is possible to change the diversity of the gut microbiome within 72 hours of changing our diet, at any age.

Focus on a plate of highly colored foods: raspberries, grapes, and pickles like sauerkraut or kimchi.”

5. Reduce your alcohol consumption

It is very simple – if you cut back on your alcohol consumption, you’ll stay younger.

Too much alcohol disrupts your sleep and lowers your mood, but less alcohol also protects you from more chronic cell changes that can lead to cancer or affect your muscles and upset your balance.

However, there is no need to become totally abstinent. Health behavior studies have shown the benefits of moderate red wine consumption — no more than two glasses a day — and only in company. Never drink alone or you may end up consuming more.

First-stage alcoholic liver disease is completely reversible in just two weeks. Abstaining from alcohol for this period gives the liver time to recover, break down fat deposits, and stop inflammation—as long as you stick to medically approved guidelines of no more than 14 units per week spread over a few days, with two or three in a row alcohol-free days.

6. It’s never too late to get fitter

According to a 2019 study by the National Cancer Institute in the USA, getting active in midlife is just as good for you as it is if you start exercising at a young age. When it comes to reducing the risk of early death, physical activity at any age helps. But the benefits diminish once you stop exercising.

“If you maintain an active lifestyle or engage in any type of exercise during this window [from adolescence to middle age], you can increase your life expectancy,” says Dr. Pedro Saint-Maurice, lead author of the study from the Cancer Institute.

“If you’re not active and get into your 40s-50s and decide to get active, you can still enjoy many of these benefits.”

But the type of exercise is also important. Most people know the benefits of aerobic exercise, but resistance exercise (with weights) is even more important for keeping bones and muscles strong. Research from Australia and Nigeria has shown that spending just three seconds a day doing an “eccentric” bicep curl — slowly stretching a free weight below your waist — can lead to significant strength gains.

When it comes to aerobic exercise, aim for more than 150 minutes a week. Brisk walking is perfect, and never sit still for more than 45 minutes at a time.

7. Limit naps

As we age, our sleep patterns change. Our nights are restless, we sleep less and wake up earlier. So it’s not surprising that we feel the urge to take more naps.

It’s okay to nap for no more than 20 minutes, but never after 3 p.m. or it disrupts your circadian rhythm.

This will drain your energy and make you feel tired and much older. Sleep deprivation is fully reversible: have a good night’s sleep and your well-being will return.

With these excellent 7 tips you can extend your life.

In addition – you can also improve your quality of life.

A longer life of higher quality – who doesn’t want that.

Now it is up to you to make the best of it and take these suggestions to heart and follow them – or ignore them as you most likely will have done before.

It’s your choice.

You can no longer use ignorance as an excuse when you are too lazy or too sluggish to implement these ideas.

Because the facts clearly speak for themselves – there really is no need for persuasion, right?

Sure – your chronological age or the number of birthdays you’ve had tells you how old you are.

But the more important question to ask yourself is – are you aging well?

Your physical, mental, and emotional health determine if you are aging well.

Let’s look at what Medical Experts have identified as the six signs that you are aging well.

1. Height and Weight

As people age, they normally lose a small amount of height. According to a study in Economics and Human Biology, people lose height at an annual rate between 0.08% and 0.10% for males and 0.12% and 0.14% for females.

At that rate, you will lose between 2cm to 4cm over the course of your life. According to the University of Arkansas Medical Center, the cartilage between bone joints wears down over time, slightly decreasing a person’s height. If your height loss is within that range, it is a sign you are aging well.

Your weight also plays a role in how well you are aging. Doctors classify weight based on Body Mass Index (BMI). BMI is a calculation of body fat based on your height and weight. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), different BMI levels indicate a person’s weight status.

The levels are:

BMI                       Weight Status

Below 18.5                        Underweight

18.5—24.9            Normal

25.0—29.9            Overweight

30.0 and Above     Obese

Scientists have determined that a BMI of 25 or more is a risk for chronic disease and poor health. According to a study in Research on Aging, obesity is a health risk at any age, including as you get older.

2. Activity Level

Your activity level is also a sign of how well you are aging. When considering your activity level, think about your:

• Posture
• Exercise
• Stamina
• Independence

How well you carry yourself or your posture and how much exercise and physical activity you do reflect how much stamina you have throughout the day. Just as people normally lose some height, they also lose some muscle mass.

According to the Harvard Medical School, after age 30, people lose 3% to 5% of their muscle mass each decade. This normal age-related muscle mass loss is known as sarcopenia. Less muscle mass means more weakness and less mobility.

Sarcopenia also puts you at a greater risk for damaging falls. An American Society for Bone and Mineral Research found that people with sarcopenia have a 2.3 higher risk of breaking a bone if they fall.

Your activity level determines how independent you are. While it may take a little longer to do some activities, a sign you are aging well is how physically independent you are.

3. Grip Strength

Another sign of aging well is your grip strength. According to a study in Clinical Interventions in Aging, grip strength is an independent sign of aging that reflects a person’s:

• Overall Strength
• Upper Limb Function
• Bone Mineral Density
• Falls and Fractures
• Malnutrition
• Cognitive Impairment
• Depression
• Sleep Problems
• Diabetes
• Quality of Life

All of these health-related problems are signs you are not aging well. Good grip strength is a sign you are healthy and physically independent, signs of aging well.

4. Cognitive Ability

According to a study in Seminars in Hearing, your brain undergoes functional and structural changes as you age. These normal changes may lead to a decline in how fast a person processes information. Researchers have found that a healthy lifestyle reduces the risk for diseases that increase cognitive decline. Aging well lowers your risk for dementia and other cognitive issues.

5. Socialization

Humans are social creatures. A study in the Animal Science Journal showed that rats kept in isolation became more aggressive and had decreased cognitive function. Social scientists have found the same results in people who do not socialize with others. During lockdown for the COVID pandemic, four in ten people reported mental health issues. Before that, one in ten people reported mental health concerns. People who age well have a strong social connection to friends and family.

6. Quality of Life

Regardless of how good or bad your physical and mental health are, your quality of life depends on your emotional health. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines actively aging well as the process of maximizing opportunities for health, participation, and security to enhance a person’s quality of life. Your mindset and outlook tell you if you feel you are aging well.

Does the use of erectile pills promote the ability to think and remember?

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia. Alzheimer’s disease is attributed to 60 percent of the approximately 25 million dementia cases worldwide. So far, the disease has been considered incurable and difficult to treat. Now a team of scientists from the Cleveland Clinic’s Genomic Medicine Institute under the direction of Feixiong Cheng has come across an important finding in the fight against Alzheimer’s.

They published the preliminary results of an encouraging study in the journal Nature Aging. According to this, there is a connection between taking sildefanil and the occurrence of Alzheimer’s disease. Sildefanil is the active ingredient in the erection pill Viagra, which was originally developed as a heart medication because it increases blood flow. Sildefanil is also used for other diseases such as pulmonary hypertension.

Cheng and his team wanted to find out whether FDA-approved drugs could also be used in Alzheimer’s patients. The reallocation of medical active ingredients for other forms of therapy is cheaper and much less complicated than the research and approval of new active ingredients. As part of the study, data from more than seven million patients and more than 1,600 approved drugs were evaluated.

The result: 69 percent fewer cases of Alzheimer’s were identified in patients who regularly take sildefanil than in patients who do not take it. In preclinical models, the research team found that sildefanil stimulates the growth of brain cells and addresses amyloids and tau proteins, which play a crucial role in Alzheimer’s disease. Cognition and memory could be significantly improved with the use of sildefanil, Cheng said. So far, however, it has only been proven that the intake of the active ingredient correlates with the lower incidence of the disease. Clinical studies should now prove the causality and show whether and how sildefanil can also be used in Alzheimer’s therapy.

International experts welcome the study, but warn against too much euphoria. The BBC quotes British neuroscientist Tara Spiers-Jones from the University of Edinburgh as saying: “Even if the data are scientifically interesting, I would not rush to take sildefanil for Alzheimer’s disease based on this study.”

Susan Kohlhaas, director of the British Alzheimer’s Research Center, told the Guardian: “This study does not prove that sildefanil is responsible for a lower risk of dementia or that it can slow down or stop the disease. The only way to find out is through a large-scale clinical trial.

Will Viagra be a potent force in the fight against Alzheimer’s ?

Viagra may be able to protect people from developing Alzheimer’s disease, a new study suggests.

The medication, also known by its chemical name sildenafil, is safe to use and is currently prescribed as a treatment for erectile dysfunction in men as well as for high blood pressure.

However, a team of academics from the United States believes the drug may also be able to reduce the risk of a person developing Alzheimer’s by 69 per cent.

Academics looked at which approved pharmaceuticals might be effective at treating other conditions they are not currently intended for. More than 1600 drugs were studied and researchers looked at how they interacted with more than 350,000 different proteins in the human body.

This method is a new field of investigation and could lead to medicines being repurposed to expand their range of applications. Analysis revealed that sildenafil may be effective at targeting some proteins involved in the development of Alzheimer’s in the brain.

In 2020, 11.5 per cent of all registered deaths in England and Wales were attributed to Alzheimer’s or dementia, with only Covid accounting for a higher proportion of deaths.

How Did They Find Out? By Trawling through insurance records

Previous studies on animals have indicated that Alzheimer’s may be preventable and treatable with Viagra, but there has been no firm evidence from human trials.

The academics trawled through the medical insurance records of more than 7 million people in the US. This anonymised dataset allowed the researchers to look at those who were prescribed the drug and their health outcomes over several years.

It showed that about 99 per cent of people taking Viagra did not develop Alzheimer’s over the six-year span. For those not on the drug, the figure was about 95 per cent.

“After six years of follow-up, sildenafil usage was significantly associated with a 69 per cent reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease, compared with matched non-sildenafil users,” the scientists wrote in their paper, published in the journal Nature Aging.

Nearly all people, 98 per cent, in the study who were taking Viagra were male as a consequence of the drug’s current use. The researchers failed to find hard evidence that the drug lowered the risk of Alzheimer’s in women.

The study has demonstrated a link between those who take the drug and a lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease, but the data is unable to prove Viagra is the reason for this.

Experts caution that the only way to ascertain a demonstrable causation is with a clinical trial.

naturally – Opinion is split over the effectiveness of Viagra to combat Alzheimer’s

Robert Howard, a professor of old-age psychiatry at University College London, said the results “failed to excite” him.

However, some academics were more upbeat about the research. Dr Jack Auty from the University of Tasmania, for example, said there were clear issues with the paper, but the approach and findings were “exciting”, “fascinating” and “fantastic”.

“We need further research. In the field of Alzheimer’s disease research, we have been excited by many drugs over the years, only to have our hopes dashed in clinical trials. I will be following this research group and the research around sildenafil closely,” he said.

Dr Susan Kohlhaas, the director of research at Alzheimer’s Research UK, said: “Developing drugs for diseases like Alzheimer’s, which attack the brain, is a costly process and can take many years.

“Being able to repurpose a drug already licensed for other health conditions could help speed up the drug discovery process and bring about life-changing dementia treatments sooner.”

Dr Ivan Koychev, the senior clinical researcher at the University of Oxford, called the study “an exciting development”, adding: “This ‘repurposing’ approach can reduce the drug discovery period by years and reduce the risk of failure as we already know how safe these drugs are in humans.”

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As you and I know – you cannot completely prevent naturally occurring memory loss, but you can certainly lower your risk. We know how memory loss naturally occurs. Your lifestyle, aging, and genetics all factor into how memory-loss effects you. With that said, here are some natural, evidence-based ways to reduce your risk of suffering from naturally occurring memory-loss.

Meditation

Meditation is the action of finding calmness or peace through breathing and concentration. Beyond relaxing us, meditation reduces stress and pain, and in turn, improves memory. As you age, gray matter in your brain declines – which negatively effects your memory. Research shows us that meditation has been known to promote an increase in gray matter and helps improve memory as a result.

Being well-rested

Beyond improving your memory, getting enough sleep is urgently important to your health, especially as you get older. Lack of sufficient sleep has long been associated with poor memory, even in those who are not at an age where they are at risk of naturally occurring memory-loss. Experts recommend adults get anywhere from 7-9 hours of sleep, which will help strengthen memories.

Maintaining A Healthy Weight

Being overweight at an age where you start to suffer from naturally occurring memory loss has ramifications beyond hurting your memory. As the body ages, its organs do not perform at the same peak it once did and being overweight further forces your decline. In addition, studies show obesity creates risk for cognitive decline which negatively affect your memory. It can also lead to insulin resistance and inflammation which are detrimental to the brain and can lead to a higher risk of Alzheimer’s.

Exercise

Going along with the prior point, exercise is essential in keeping both the body and mind healthy and strong. It is proven that 15 minutes of moderate exercise alone can improve memory across all age groups. If possible, making a daily habit of exercise will further improve your memory. Even tasks as minute as walking around your home or garden have proven to be beneficial to maintaining and improving your memory.

Avoiding Alcohol

Alcohol has proven to be detrimental to your memory as it causes neural changes in your brain. Consuming alcohol regularly, and drinking more than one glass of alcohol daily throughout your adult life can accelerate the deterioration of the hippocampus which, as stated before, is key for memory performance. By moderating your drinking habits, or by eliminating the process altogether, unnecessary damage to the hippocampus can be avoided.

Brain Exercises

Your memory can be improved by exercising your brain’s cognitive skills. This can be done by completing crossword puzzles, playing word-recall games, and other stimulating games such as Tetris. Studies show that 15 minutes of exercising your brain at least 5 days a week significantly improves your performance of short-term memory, working memory, concentration and problem-solving.

Vitamin D

Vitamin D is a vital nutrient that plays several roles in your health. Low levels of Vitamin D have been linked to lower cognitive functions and a greater risk of dementia. You can get your Vitamin D levels tested via a checkup at your primary health care provider like your doctor. Being conscious of Vitamin D deficiency is incredibly important, given how common it is.

Dietary Supplements

Along with exercise, a proper diet is needed to maintain high cognitive functions. Eating certain types of foods can significantly increase the performance of your brain. Anti-inflammatory foods lower inflammation in the body allowing for a better flow of oxygen to the brain. Curcumin, a concentrate food in turmeric root, is another tool that can be used to increase memory, and you can consume it by cooking with certain foods, or via tea. It is a potent antioxidant that exerts anti-inflammatory effects, promoting blood flow to your brain.

As you can see, while you may not be able to avoid it all together, you can take on preventative measures to keep a healthy memory – for much longer!