The study was designed to test whether a positive attitude and purposeful life has a positive effect on decreasing the risk of dementia. The study was performed by taking 951 older people without dementia who participated in the Rush Memory and Aging Project and having them answer various statements to gauge their level of satisfaction in life.

Over the course of the study 16.3 percent of the participants developed Alzheimer’s disease and after reviewing the participant pool the researchers discovered the following:

• People who responded most positively to statements about their lives were the least likely to develop Alzheimer’s
• People who said they had more purposeful lives were less likely to develop mild cognitive impairment and showed a slower rate of cognitive decline
• People who scored 4.2 out of 5 on the purpose-in-life measure were about 2.4 times less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease (compared with people who scored 3.0)

The study only succeeds at making the correlation between a positive attitude and a lower risk of Alzheimer’s. In discussing their findings, the study’s co-author Dr. Aron S. Buchman stated, “One possibility is that, truly, somebody with high purpose in life might have a lower risk of developing dementia because of what’s involved in purpose in life. The importance of the study is this doesn’t prove anything, but it points researchers in the direction of a link between purpose in life and cognition in late life. And now we have to find out what the biological basis is. More social activity, more physical activity, higher cognitive activities, high purpose in life — all these psychosocial factors seem to be linked with longer life, decreased mortality, decreased disability and provide important clues to a public health approach to try to increase independence in older people in later life.”

Some researchers, such as Greg M. Cole, a neuroscientist at the Greater Los Angeles VA Healthcare System, argue that the findings might simply further point out the link between depression and Alzheimer’s. However, there is a growing body of evidence to suggest that our mood and overall level of happiness contributes to mental health – the purported “mind-body” connection. As Dr. Buchman suggested, staying social and participating in physical fitness are not only fun activities but are likely to improve our over well-being and longevity as well.

• As the 7th leading cause of death in the US, 5.3 million Americans have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, half a million of them under the age of 65
• Approximately 15% of all individuals over 65 will acquire the disease. By 2030, the segment of the U.S. population aged 65 years and older is expected to double, and as such, so will the number of patients with Alzheimer’s disease
• 68% of all nursing home residents (3.3 million) display cognitive impairments ranging from mild to severe
• From 2000-2006, death rates have declined for most major diseases – heart disease, breast cancer, prostate cancer, stroke and HIV/AIDS – while deaths from Alzheimer’s disease rose more than 46%!

The impact Alzheimer’s disease has on caregivers continues to stagger the mind. There are 10.9 million unpaid caregivers  in the US today caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s disease. Called the sandwich generation, over 70% of them are between the ages of 35 and 65, and may be caring for children as well as their parents. The economic cost of these caregivers is now at $144 billion, just factoring for the more than 20 hours per week that they dedicate to Alzheimer’s care.  The indirect health impacts are evident for these care giving individuals as they are reported to be more likely to have high levels of stress hormones, reduced immune function,  slow wound healing, hypertension,  higher rates of depression and coronary heart disease.

The impact on the caregivers employment, related income, and financial security is also enormous. They are more likely to turn down promotions, quit work or reduce hours, and defer financially preparing for their own retirement. The cost of long term care at skilled nursing facilities is prohibitive for many middle income families for the duration that care is needed. A staggering 70% of those with Alzheimer’s disease are cared for at home.

Let’s talk about the impact on the health care system. A patient with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease costs the health care three times more per year to treat  than an ill person that does not have Alzheimer’s, with the total annual cost running at $172 billion.

When looking at ethnicity, the report shows that African-Americans are, on average, two to three times more likely than whites to have cognitive impairment, and these differences are even greater in the younger  age groups.  Latinos are also more likely than whites to be afflicted. It’s reported that genetic factors don’t seem to be a relevant, rather socio-economic and lifestyle factors play a larger role. Those with a lower education or lower quality of education showed a higher likelihood of acquiring Alzheimer’s disease.

Click here for more details and to read the full Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures here.

In a future article, we will discuss the initiatives and preparations that government and the health care system are taking to get ahead of this tidal wave of looming health care costs. Later, we will also address what we can do as individuals to reduce our risks of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease and avoid becoming a burden on our families as we age.

Often we tend to associate traumatic brain injury with vehicle accidents, military situations and other personal accidents. However, recent research indicates that the personal toll caused by concussions can be just as bad and sometimes worse. Although concussions were previously thought to be trivial brain injuries we now know (thanks to research discoveries by Laurence Kleiner, MD, a pediatric neurosurgeon at The Children’s Medical Center of Dayton and others) that even the most minor concussion can produce serious negative effects on a person’s concentration, memory, reaction time and emotions.

Brain injury effects the very root of who we are as individuals – our ability to think, to communicate, and to connect with others. The good news is that through effective  Traumatic Brain Injury rehabilitation methods, approximately 85% of TBI victims’ problems will eventually resolve themselves.  Brain injury research is critical to how we:

• apply clinical treatments
• educate students and ourselves
• screen  military personnel before being deployed into combat zones
• engage in sports and generally
• maintain a healthy lifestyle

Brain research and all it’s enlightening findings affect universities, hospitals, patient groups, government agencies, schools, service organizations, professional associations, and the population in general. Public awareness helps to ensure this research gets funded. There are a number of online events and offline activities going on this month. Below are just a few of the many resources available:

• Brain Injury Association’s 2010 Sports Concussion Fact Sheet
• Brain Awareness Week – March 15-21, 2010. Founded and coordinated by the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives and European Dana Alliance for the Brain, BAW is celebrating its fifteenth anniversary campaign in 2010 . It  is is a global campaign to increase public awareness about the progress and benefits of brain research. Click here to find events in your area here.
• BrainLine.org – a resources for preventing, treating and living with TBI.

However, their study suggests taking naps not only refreshes the mind, but can make you smarter as well. Dr. Matthew Walker, the primary author of the study, stated, “Sleep not only rights the wrong of prolonged wakefulness but, at a neurocognitive level, it moves you beyond where you were before you took a nap.”

The study was conducted by taking 39 healthy young adult volunteers and putting them into two groups: a nap group and a no-nap group. Both groups were required to perform complicated information-based tasks during the noon hour. In the afternoon the nap group was allowed to rest for an hour and a half while the no-nap group was not.  In the evening both groups had to perform a new set of learning exercises. It is not surprising that the group that was allowed to rest performed better than the group that was not. However, what is surprising is that this group performed better than they had earlier in the day as well (before the nap).

It is believed that as we grow tired throughout the day regions of the brain that are vital for storing new information begin to shut down. Based on prior research, it is believed that the hippocampus temporarily stores fact-based memories before sending these memories over to the brain’s prefrontal cortex for filing. If you visualize your hippocampus as a bucket, eventually this bucket gets full (of information). Walker’s recent research suggests that it is at rest we are able to clear out this information and file it away. However, if the bucket (your hippocampus) gets full before you are able to sleep, it becomes tougher to capture information as it comes in because there is nowhere to put it.

It is well known that our sleep becomes less efficient as we age. As the scientific community continues to learn how sleep effects the brain our hope is it will help us better understand neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and other cognitive impairments. In the meantime, make sure you get good sleep and if your schedule allows, a few afternoon naps as well. Doctor’s orders.

At the 3rd International Congress on Gait and Mental Function in Washington DC in February, a series of new research studies were unveiled. One such study, described by Prof. Jeffrey M. Hausdorff , Director of Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, was on the topic of dual-tasking while waking. That is, walking and doing one other thing at the same time – like talking, observing the trees and flowers or other tasks that require a little attention.

Turns out that there’s a strong correlation between our executive function skills and our ability to dual task while walking. Prof. Hausdorff went on to describe how deficits in this cognitive function that are experienced by elderly people, and certainly those with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, can be a significant contributor to falls. Falls are a well known source of further disability issues and general decline with the elderly.

Now while I was pondering this new information on the role of focused attention and problem solving in dual tasking, I got a call from a friend and I began to describe this new insight. “Wow” was her response. “That’s really interesting. I can ballroom dance, because when I’m dancing, I’m thinking about what my body is doing. But when I’m walking down the street, I’m not thinking about walking down the street – I’m thinking about what I need to work on, what I’m going to buy or what I’m going to make for dinner and OUCH! what was that I just banged into?”

Prof. Hausdorff has a strong hypotheses that brain training to strengthen focused attention and executive function will result in better regular walking abilities and improved ability to dual task, and ultimately contribute to reduced falls in the elderly. This makes logical sense. This research topic could have very practical impact in reducing hospitalization for falls and help to keep health care costs down for elderly citizens. We’ll look forward to more research evidence. In the meantime, the Aging Well Program of Cognitive Training may help senior citizens with challenges in this area.

To conduct the study a group of scientists gathered 125 same-sex but fraternal twins, and 164 identical twins, and tasked them with taking the Cambridge Face Memory Test. The test measures the ability to learn six faces and then recognize those faces in different poses and lighting. The study showed that the identical twins’ ability to remember faces was much stronger than the fraternal twins’ ability. Based on this, it was concluded that the shared genes of the identical twins (and not the shared family environment) attributed to the identical twins’ ability to perform better than the fraternal twin group.

The study was led by Jeremy Wilmer, an assistant professor of psychology at Wellesley College. In discussing his findings Wilmer stated, “Our results do not rule out the possibility that extreme environments – for example malnutrition or social isolation – could hinder one’s face recognition ability, or that one might improve at recognizing faces with an innovative training regimen. Indeed, it is well known that most of us have trouble recognizing the faces of those whose race or ethnicity we have little exposure to in our everyday lives. However, our research does suggest that given reasonable levels of exposure, most differences in face recognition ability are genetic in origin.”

The study opens the door for further research into how genes affect memory, thinking, and behavior. It also reminds us that those not endowed with these advantageous genetic traits still have the ability to improve our recall by engaging in brain training. If you are interested in learning more about this study in particular, you can do so by visiting testmybrain.org.

1) Sleep – Sleep has long been identified by scientists as the state in which our bodies optimize and consolidate newly acquired information and store it as memory. A new study in Nature Reviews Neuroscience provides further evidence that getting enough restful sleep is a key ingredient to improving memory.

2) Nutrition – It is a ‘no-brainer’ that poor nutrition will adversely affect your memory (pun intended). There is a strong body of scientific evidence that a diet rich in Omega-3 fatty acids, B vitamins, and anti-oxidants is important to brain health. One new study shows that blueberry juice might actually improve memory in older adults. In fact, the popular brain scientist Dr. Amen calls blueberries “brain berries” because of the accumulated research on the positive benefits of this fruit.

3) Relax – De-stressing and meditation are also scientifically accepted ways to improve your memory. In a well publicized study about meditation, a strong case was made that the daily practice of meditation thickened the parts of the brain’s cerebral cortex responsible for decision making, attention, and memory.

4)Physical Exercise – A recent study out of the University of Pennsylvania about exercise and memory found that people who routinely engaged in mindfulness exercises showed  measurable improvements in “mind-fitness”. One of the study’s authors stated, “Working memory is an important feature of mind-fitness. Not only does it safeguard against distraction and emotional reactivity, but it also provides a mental workspace to ensure quick-and-considered decisions and action plans. Building mind-fitness with mindfulness training may help anyone who must maintain peak performance in the face of extremely stressful circumstances…”

5) Cognitive Stimulation – Lastly, it is no secret that regularly participating in brain training helps improve memory. In a study I published about HAPPYneuron, our users’ results were analyzed after completing 500 exercises over 18 weeks. On average, HAPPYneuron users improved their memory by 13.9 percent, with an overall improvement of 15.6 percent across all cognitive skills. In short, engaging your memory through practice by playing brain games at HAPPYneuron has been scientifically shown to improve memory.

Tips to implement these five simple memory improving strategies:

» Get to bed a little earlier each night to get more sleep
» Start eating more foods rich in Omega-3 fatty acids, B vitamins, and anti-oxidants such as fish, avocados, walnuts, and blueberries
» Get a book on meditation and/or sign-up for a class and try it out
» If you are not already exercising at least three times a week, start going for 20 minute walks until you build up enough fitness to expand your exercise regimen
» Login to HAPPYneuron or sign up for a free trial and start playing brain games to improve your memory

“Creating and renewing personal connections online is the biggest draw for these Boomers,” said Lisa E. Phillips, eMarketer senior analyst and author of the new report, “Boomers and Social Media.” “About 47% of online boomers maintain a profile on at least one social network, according to several sources. Their contacts include family, friends and co-workers of all ages.”

Staying socially connected is also a great way to stay mentally fit. By nature humans are social animals and even non-extraverts need to feel a sense of connection to the outside world.  As Dr. Pascale Michelon explains in the SharpBrains’ article Social Connection for Cognitive Fitness, “Mental fitness seems to depend on a large part on being connected with other people. For instance people with low social support seem to be more prone to mental illness (McGuire & Raleigh, 1986).” In another study mentioned in the article, doctors discovered that low social support, especially coming from the family, was associated with chronic depression. Lastly, a 2008 study showed that socializing with other people had many of the same benefits as performing mental exercises and showed similar effects in terms of improving brain functions.

Long known by researchers, when we interact socially we exercise many of the cognitive functions needed for everyday living (e.g. attention, control, and memory).  By continually practicing these skills we can keep ourselves mentally fit and, because of this, most scientists also agree that social interaction can benefit the brain. The jury is still out concerning what role social media plays in this regard but there is no denying that these innovations allow friends and family members new opportunities to stay connected and interact socially. Where it had been traditionally difficult to stay in touch with some loved ones due to distance, finances, or other limitations, social media has enabled many to reconnect. So “log-in” and say hello to a long lost friend or family member… you will make someone happy and you might end up helping your brain too!

Many researchers are exploring this predictability question and a UCLA research team has just announced their findings after more than 3 years of studying this area. What they found was that those with MCI showing identifiable but subtle changes in their brain structure, later went on to develop Alzheimer’s Disease.

With 10% of all those over 65 expected to develop Alzheimer’s Disease (and a significant higher percentage for people in this group who are diagnosed with  MCI) these findings can play a big role in determining how we diagnose,  treat, and plan the care for these patients.  You can read more about these important findings here…

Even though the research was performed on lab rats, it is believed that the science can be applied to human populations. One of the authors of the study, Susumu Tonegawa, said, “This study not only highlights the importance of a diet with sufficient daily magnesium, but also suggests the usefulness of magnesium-based treatments for aging-associated memory decline.”

These are important findings considering in the US, 68 percent of the population is getting less than the recommended daily allowance. In France, 18 percent of men consume less than 2/3 of the recommended daily allowance for magnesium (420 milligrams a day for men 31 and older, 320 milligrams a day for non-pregnant women 31 and older). In fact, it is believed that half of the population of the industrialized world has a magnesium deficiency.

Magnesium is an important mineral. It is needed for more than 300 biochemical reactions in the human body! It is well-known for assisting with heart, muscle, and nerve function, but this new study shows it might help enhance learning and memory as well. So how do you get more magnesium in your diet? Green vegetables (such as spinach) are good sources. Legumes, such as beans and peas, are also a great source. Whole grain breads are packed with a lot of magnesium too. If none of these food items meet your fancy simply drinking plenty of hard water should help assist in supplementing your intake of magnesium (although this is less assured since the amount can vary depending on the water supply).