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Training for the Aging Brain
By Susan Gonzales, The Evening Sun
February 28, 2009
Eighty-nine-year-old Pauline Folk, who lives with her husband at Columbia Cottage Assisted Living Community on Grandview Road in Hanover, will soon be donning a cap and gown for her graduation ceremony.
After undergoing eight weeks of an intensive, computer-based brain-fitness program called "Posit Science," Folk and nine other residents, including 89-year-old Jane Herman, not only will celebrate the completion of the course but also will enjoy the fruits of their labor.
Research on the Posit Science program, developed by neuroscientist Dr. Michael Merzenich, has shown it can improve memory and speed of processing, as well as provide many other cognitive benefits, in elderly subjects. And Orla Nugent, vice president of Columbia Cottage Assisted Living Communities, said Posit Science has been a "remarkable success" in residents of her three other communities in Pennsylvania who already have completed the program.
Karen Mackley, managing director of the Hanover location, agrees.
"The program can bring 10 years back" of mental functioning, particularly memory, she said.
Key to brain fitness
Posit Science is based on a premise that intense thinking and concentration can physically alter people's brains.
Until recently, many health experts assumed the loss of mental capacity associated with aging was irreversible and unpreventable. The ability to physically remodel the brain was thought to be limited to childhood.
But now, a growing body of science shows the brain is pliable and changeable throughout life, regardless of age or genetics. Studies have shown that maintaining physical activity into older age can slow or even prevent the physical declines associated with aging.
Like our bodies, it takes rigorous workouts to keep the brain in shape. When it comes to maintaining fitness, however, the brain has an important advantage over the body: the ability to rewire itself.
Recent research indicates older brains can deal with age-associated cell death by redirecting traffic. In other words, finding another, more viable pathway in the brain to perform the same mental task.
Although it is not known exactly how this mental adaptability is brought about, studies suggest regular, sustained and intense thinking might be the key.
Experiencing benefits
Like other participants at Columbia Cottage, Folk and Herman are enjoying the brain-fitness program.
"It's very challenging and very interesting," Herman said during her second week on the program. "I look forward to it every day."
Folk echoed Herman's sentiments.
"It's fun," she said. "I like it."
Amy Richardson and Sarah Weaver, who mentor the residents in this undertaking, share the participants' enthusiasm. Richardson said the participants can view an assessment of their progress in the program each day.
"They are knocking it out of the park," she said.
Mackley and Nugent think the program even helps to instill confidence in older people who use it. Nugent explained that forgetfulness causes some residents to shy away from conversation, and she has seen those same residents happily engage in conversations after completing the eight-week program. Even after only a few sessions of the program, Herman's confidence in her ability to focus and remember has improved.
"Now I see that I can remember things," she said.
Mackley said the program is self-paced and that people can go at their own speed. But Weaver laughed and said some residents are so into the program that they have asked her how they're doing compared to others.
Mackley said they plan to have a local legislator give the participants their certificates after completion of the program, and the residents' children and grandchildren will be in attendance.
"It's a major achievement," Richardson said. "I'm so proud of them."
Nugent predicts that brain fitness will get the same attention as physical fitness in five years.
"Brain health is so important," Nugent said. "It gives them a new lease on life."
HOW IT WORKS
A variety of lifestyle changes and activities might prove to be helpful in maintaining cognitive function:
- Adding more physical exercise. Physical activity appears to positively influence the production of new neurons in the brain.
- Improving diet. Good nutrition is always important, and omega-3 fatty acids, found in cold-water fish like salmon and tuna, also have shown some benefits.
- Reducing/managing stress. Stress can decrease both the creation of new neurons and the length of times neurons survive.
- Playing games and solving puzzles like crosswords, sudoku, and other memory exercises. However, doing a crossword puzzle, for example, only stimulates a small part of the brain. Because the brain is composed of many areas that focus on different things, cross-training our brains is as important as cross-training our bodies.
Three key principles for good brain exercises are novelty, variety and constant challenge.
TO LEARN MORE
According to Posit Science, the cognitive training programs they offer take a different approach to brain fitness than other companies (which challenge memory and other cognitive functions through methods like game play) by targeting the roots of memory and thinking - the ability of the brain to absorb information from the senses. How well the brain sees and hears is related directly to how quickly a person can think, take in information and remember things.
Posit Science offer two types of online software: "The Brain Fitness Program Classic" for auditory processing and memory, and "InSight" for visual processing and memory.
More information about the Posit Science program is available online at positscience.com.
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