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The Benefits of Mental Workouts
By William Hathaway, Hartford Courant
May 24, 2004
Experts agree that exercising the mind keeps cognitive skills sharp. But which activities help the most, and how well do they fend off the effects of aging? No one is sure. With use, an old mind can learn new tricks and perform tasks nearly as well as young minds can, scientists now agree.
But researchers still don't know what type of mental gymnastics work best to keep the mental fog of age at bay, or even how much help exercising your brain might be in fending off a loss of cognitive skills.
"It's still an open question about how much activity influences ability," says Randy Buckner, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at Washington University in St. Louis. "But it certainly doesn't hurt."
Buckner's work is part of a growing body of scientific literature that has transformed the idea that age inevitably brings a decline in mental skills. As people age, their brains do shrink and go through other detrimental changes. However, studies have shown that people who remain mentally active - reading, writing, doing crossword puzzles and so on - tend to stay sharper longer and are less likely to get dementia than people who are less mentally active.
Buckner's research using MRI technology confirms that there are clear differences in the activity in the brains of young adults and of seniors when they perform mental tasks. Young adults tend to consolidate intense activity in specific areas of the brain during tasks. By contrast, scans of elderly brains in some ways resemble those of adolescents, with less intense activity recorded over wider areas of the brain.
"We all agree older adults tend to recruit more brain regions than young adults," Buckner says. "But is this a good thing or a bad thing? It may be a productive response to the changes of aging."
And that adaptive response can be strengthened if the mind stays active, he says.
The bottom line, Buckner says, is that senior minds can do almost all the tasks younger minds can, "but just not as quickly."
But what exercises are best? Buckner says he doesn't know.
Plenty of people are trying to find out.
At Hamilton Heights Place, a seniors' community in West Hartford, Conn., residents have access to the Brain G.Y.M.M., short for Get Your Mind Moving. The set of computerized mental exercises is based on the work of New York neuropsychologist Elkhonon Goldberg and was developed by New England Cognitive Center, a nonprofit educational consulting company in Hartford.
The idea is to provide residents with a series of exercises that encompass a broad array of mental skills rather than concentrating on a single cognitive weakness - such as the loss of language in a stroke victim. In theory, a wide range of activities will improve the overall mental health of the participant.
With the help of a "trainer," participants do computerized exercises designed to improve focus, language, memory and problem-solving skills. Scores will be saved and used by academic researchers who are trying to find the best way to keep elderly minds sharp.
"We don't know if any of this will work," says Patti Said, executive director of the cognitive center.
Finding ways to keep mentally sharp is of more than passing interest to seniors, as well as tens of millions of baby boomers who are finding that their memories are no longer razor-sharp.
And they are of crucial importance to 58-year-old Cathy Nardone, who was diagnosed two years ago with early-onset Alzheimer's disease, a progressive and incurable disease. Nardone, formerly a nurse at Hartford Hospital, was one of the first residents of Hamilton Heights to sign up for the Brain G.Y.M.M.
There is some evidence that remaining intellectually engaged might slow the progress of Alzheimer's. But even if the computer exercises don't impede the course of her disease, Nardone says she hopes people will learn something from her experience.
But some researchers caution that people shouldn't limit themselves to using a computer to stay mentally acute. Remaining physically active also is thought to help keep cognitive skills sharp.
Studies of mice, for instance, have shown that, as they age, those that are active are less likely to lose cells in the hippocampus, an area of the brain essential in the formation of memories, says Bruce S. Mc- Ewen, a neuroendocrinologist at Rockefeller University in New York.
"More generally, [studies] showed the beneficial effects of exercise," McEwen says. "They showed improved decision-making and improved pattern of blood flow" in the brain when compared to sedentary mice.
Buckner says people should not forget other people in their efforts to improve mental acuity. "Don't underestimate the value of social interactions, which can be really enriching," he says.
And it may be that the act itself of taking steps toward living a more healthful life may have beneficial physiological effects on the brain, McEwen suggests.
Taking those steps is in Nardone's game plan.
"You have to keep moving forward," she says.
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