Alzheimer's Reading Room

Brain Exercises May Slow Cognitive Decline Initially, But Speed Up Dementia Later

2010-09-03T13:07:00.005-04:00

...at the end of the day, you're spending a lesser proportion of your lifespan in a cognitively dependent, demented state, which I think is what we're all after...

By Bob DeMarco
Alzheimer's Reading Room

The media jumped all over a newly released research study that was conducted by Robert S. Wilson, PhD, neuropsychologist, Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center, Rush University Medical Center.

Somehow, reporters concluded that brain exercise is a bad thing because while brain exercises can slow decline in thinking skills, they might speed up dementia later in life. In other words, if you are predisposed to Alzheimer's disease.

Please pay close attention to this quote from Dr. Wilson.

"We think what a cognitively active lifestyle does is help delay the initial appearance of cognitive impairment in old age and allows a person to have a longer period of cognitive vitality and cognitive independence.

"Then, if the person lives long enough and the underlying disease is progressing nonetheless, when dementia does become clinically manifest, we think that this sort of lifestyle is associated with a slightly less protracted course of the disease," he added. "So that at the end of the day, you're spending a lesser proportion of your lifespan in a cognitively dependent, demented state, which I think is what we're all after."

Key -- a cognitively active lifestyle helps delay the initial appearance of cognitive impairment in old age and allows a person to have a longer period of cognitive vitality and cognitive independence.

Note -- you spend a smaller proportion of you life in a demented state.

Also note, the studies researchers evaluated the mental activities of 1,157 people age 65 or older who did not have dementia at the start of the nearly 12-year study.

Bottom line, it appears that mental activities like crossword puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, painting, and searching the Internet are beneficial to your brain. And, they might delay the onset of Alzheimer's dementia.

It seems to me based on experience with my mother as an Alzheimer's caregiver, and conversations with Alzheimer's caregivers all over the world that this is good, not bad news.

Here is the information released by the Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center in Chicago.

Brain Exercises May Slow Cognitive Decline Initially, But Speed Up Dementia Later

New research shows that mentally stimulating activities such as crossword puzzles, reading and listening to the radio may, at first, slow the decline of thinking skills but speed up dementia later in old age. The research is published in the September 1, 2010, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

“Our results suggest that the benefit of delaying the initial signs of cognitive decline may come at the cost of more rapid dementia progression later on, but the question is why does this happen?” said study author Robert S. Wilson, PhD, neuropsychologist, Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center, Rush University Medical Center.

According to Wilson, mentally stimulating activities may somehow enhance the brain’s ability to function relatively normally despite the buildup of lesions in the brain associated with dementia. However, once they are diagnosed with dementia, people who have a more mentally active lifestyle are likely to have more brain changes related to dementia compared to those without a lot of mental activity. As a result, those with more mentally active lifestyles may experience a faster rate of decline once dementia begins.

Wilson noted that mental activities compress the time period that a person spends with dementia, delaying its start and then speeding up its progress. “This reduces the overall amount of time that a person may suffer from dementia,” he said.

For the study, researchers evaluated the mental activities of 1,157 people age 65 or older who did not have dementia at the start of the nearly 12-year study. People answered questions about how often they participated in mental activities such as listening to the radio, watching television, reading, playing games and going to a museum; for this five-point cognitive activity scale, the more points scored, the more often people participated in mentally stimulating exercises.

During the next six years, the study found that the rate of cognitive decline in people without cognitive impairment was reduced by 52 percent for each point on the cognitive activity scale. For people with Alzheimer’s disease, the average rate of decline per year increased by 42 percent for each point on the cognitive activity scale.

The study was supported by the National Institute on Aging and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

The American Academy of Neurology, an association of more than 22,000 neurologists and neuroscience professionals, is dedicated to promoting the highest quality patient-centered neurologic care. A neurologist is a doctor with specialized training in diagnosing, treating and managing disorders of the brain and nervous system such as stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, and multiple sclerosis.

http://www.rush.edu/webapps/MEDREL/servlet/NewsRelease?id=1413

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Bob DeMarco is the editor of the Alzheimer's Reading Room and an Alzheimer's caregiver. Bob has written more than 1,810 articles with more than 89,500 links on the Internet. Bob resides in Delray Beach, FL.

Original content Bob DeMarco, the Alzheimer's Reading Room

Keeping The Love Alive: Fun Is A Food Group

2010-09-03T08:12:00.001-04:00

By Sheryl Lynn
Alzheimer's Reading Room

How important is having fun to you?

Do you create time each day to do something that is fun for you or your loved one or maybe even both of you?

If the joy of living seems to be on a permanent vacay, how can you bring it back?

Fun, for me, isn't something frivolous. It's an essential of daily living for me. I'm now involved with the care of two women I love who are living with dementia. If you think dealing with one is a challenge, try adding another. I've now promoted fun to the category of "food group." I need to have fun each day to stay healthy in every possible way. Maybe you do, too?

I'll share a few ideas that work for me, and I hope you'll post ideas that work for you:

Revisit simpler times: I was still a kid in the 1960's. I didn't have to be an adult. I did fun things in the 1960's. Some of the fun things I did included playing miniature golf with my dad, taking long weekend rides with my family, drinking milk through a chocolate straw, and changing my appearance. When life feels too stressful, I go back to doing the things I used to do.

I play miniature golf, I find scenic ways to travel to and from my mother's and my aunt's residences, I buy a little of what used to be called penny candy, and I change how I look.

A month ago, my hair was waist-length, It's now grazing the tops of my shoulders. The shorter hair makes me look less worn out, and it's fun to rock a new look.

Oh, and I recently found chocolate straws in my grocery store! I'm now drinking almond milk instead of cow's milk, but chocolate is chocolate, no matter what. The little girl who still lives inside me is happy.
Revisit simpler times with your loved one: When I was caring for my mother two years ago while she was in an earlier stage of the disease, I took her to lunch each day in a town that was founded in the late 1800's. The buildings that have survived look a lot like the Painted Ladies houses in San Francisco. The town leaders have mandated that all new buildings are designed and built to look like the original buildings. My mom loved going there for lunch.

The town wasn't that much older than she was, and she felt right at home. We ate light meals at sidewalk cafes. The breeze felt delicious on our skin. It felt wonderful to leave the 21st century behind each time we visited. We both relaxed and enjoyed each other's company.

I kept exclaiming over how I loved the feel of eating outdoors, how fresh the air smelled, how cooling the breeze felt, how musical the call of the birds was, how colorful the meals looked and how good they tasted.

This encouraged my mother to live in the moment, fully engaged with each of her five senses. Dementia wasn't allowed to join us for lunch. And it didn't.
Giggle with my friends: I remember my best friend and I reading each other jokes we'd found on the internet over the phone each day when we were both caregiving seven years ago. It helped us stay sane. It also helped our patients; they felt our sudden lightness of spirit and responded positively to it.

Do you know a human joke machine?

One of my friends has a friend who forwards the jokes a friend sends to him. Some of the jokes are clean. Most of them aren't. Almost all of them get me laughing, which is good for my health and my mood. I told him he'd better stay friends with her, no matter what. I need her!
Be goofy with my friends: I'm a member of the American Association of Retired Persons. So what? I can still be goofy!

I went out to lunch last week with two friends. We laughed together for four hours. The waiter had so much fun bantering with us that he gave us a free appetizer, a free dessert for three, and a free salad for three after the dessert.

None of us wanted to leave, and the waiter did everything he could do to get us to stay. I tried a little matchmaking, suggesting that my glamorous friend would be the perfect girlfriend for him. He ended up asking for her phone number. He hasn't called her yet. Maybe it's because I told him that if he was a player and did anything to hurt her, he'd have me to answer to? Whatever.

Both friends are caregivers. They need to laugh at least as much as I do. We were goofy, it felt great to be goofy, and we look forward to being goofy again.
Move your body. Remember how you loved to dance or do acrobatics or stunts as a child? Can you do them now? If you can, go for it. It feels great to move freely! If you can't, find something you can do.

My mom did chair yoga for a while. The stretches were simple, she could sit in a chair while she did them, and she felt really good about herself after she was done.

Drumming is a great way to get rid of caregiver stress.

Does belly dancing appeal to you? As we get older, some of us (not you, of course, but I have heard of a few others for whom this is true) have more belly to shake. I recently found Zumba. I've heard it described as combining belly dancing with hip hop.There are free videos on YouTube that I move to when I can. What a fun way to exercise!
Try to experience the pleasant things in our world as our loved ones might experience the pleasant things in our world: An Elvis impersonator performed at my mother's residence last year. He was really good. He had the hair, the moves, the white jumpsuit, and the voice. He said "Thank you very much" with just the right sneer. I loved watching him. He was having such fun interacting with his audience. He'd swing his hips and hit a classic Elvis pose. All the residents were screaming their approval. I'd never seen them so excited.

And then, I realized they thought Elvis had really come to their home to perform just for them. If you squinted your eyes, you'd swear this guy was the real deal. And how many of the residents have issues with visual and mental focus? Wouldn't that be the coolest thing. to believe that you were so special that Elvis would come and sing to you?

In that moment, I pretended how it might feel to be them. It felt great. There are so many moments that don't feel good in Dementia World. This one felt terrific.

Carpe diem.

Have fun.

Sheryl Lynn is the author of the upcoming book "The Light Is A Thank You," which chronicles the spiritual journey through dementia she has taken with her mother, Eleanor. She is the host of "Glow With The Flow Radio Show," currently on hiatus.

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