A new Mayo Clinic study found that engaging in cognitive activities like reading books, playing games or crafting in middle age or later life are associated with a decreased risk of mild cognitive impairment. Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a transitional state between normal aging and the earliest features of Alzheimer’s disease.
“This study is exciting because it demonstrates that aging does not need to be a passive process,” says Yonas Geda, M.D., a Mayo Clinic neuropsychiatrist and author of this study. “By simply engaging in cognitive exercise, you can protect against future memory loss.”
As part of the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging, Dr. Geda and his colleagues identified more than 1,300 people between the ages of 70 and 89. Of those, 197 individuals had mild cognitive impairment and 1,124 were cognitively normal. Both groups answered questions about their activities within the past year and when they were between 50 and 65 years old.
The study found that reading books, playing games, participating in computer activities and crafting led to a 30 to 50 percent decrease in the risk of developing mild cognitive impairment. People who watched television for less than seven hours a day in later years were 50 percent less likely to develop mild cognitive impairment than those who watched more than seven hours of television per day. Additionally, individuals who participated in social activities and read magazines during middle age were about 40 percent less likely to develop mild cognitive impairment than those who did not participate in those activities.
This study was presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s Annual Meeting in Seattle, April 25-May 2, 2009.
Below is a link to an edited youtube video with Dr. Geda that you can embed with your stories.
So now that Obama has passed the law forbiding trashing stem cells, what is Mayo doing in the area of researching it, with the hopes of curing illnessess such as paralasis?
In response to Sarah –
Regenerative medicine is a major new frontier and a scientific priority because it shows such promise. Mayo has a variety of groups and investigators working on the regeneration of cells in the spinal cord with the goal of restoring movement and mobility to individuals paralyzed either through vehicle accidents or other trauma, or wounds on the battlefield. Mayo researchers were selected as the lead center for neurological regeneration studies sponsored by the Armed Forces Institute for Regenerative Medicine. To what degree the recent regulatory change on stem cells will impact specific Mayo projects is yet to be seen.
Bob Nellis
Mayo Clinic Research Communications
hi my name is mohammedbashir nicked moha by my frnds in acountry called busia the problem is i can see food through smelling,i can know someone by hearing his/her sound. i can read things from far place i think this agift from God but others say it is adisease help me.
My husband an ordained priest of 56 years is afflicted with severe macular degeneration and a cochlear implant, therefore reading and audio difficult options What training exercises can he doto improve short term memory loss. Bunny Harrison
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Thanks for your post! I believe that brain exercises does not only prevent memory loss but it also helps to make our brain become more responsive, efficient, and effective.
http://growingwithtruth.com/blog/91/how-to-exercise-your-brain/
So, I’m an 82-year-old retired professor of literature. I read all the time, and not just in English.I write essays and fiction and poetry. I do volunteer work, play brain-type games like Sudoku, swim and run, practice standing on one foot, travel by myself, live in a non-English-speaking country and my memory is slipping, my short-term memory, that is. I just about have to write a note to myself to remember why I’ve moved from one room to another. Otherwise I have to return to my starting point. I’m laughing because I’m doing everything you prescribe, and I’m also DNA’d like my grandmother who lived to be 97, compos mentis all the way. Now, what do I do?
Hi Kossia – While we cannot provide medical advice online, Dr. Geda asked me to share the following response with you.
Dear Dr. Gedda and Ms. Rice,
Thank you for taking the time and for your very considered reply, which has been extremely important in helping me sort out my situation. I would like to share with you an exercise that I have been doing for the last week, which I am not only enjoying but is also, I think, helping. Perhaps others might like to try it.
I realize, as you pointed out, that this loss is primarily associated with not focusing. In the midst of doing, or thinking, something, I remember another task and still focused on where my mind is, I move to take care of the other task, and, of course, when I start to take care of the second, I can’t remember what it was that took me away from the task upon which I was focused. How is that for a sentence that goes around in circles. Great for literary structure but hardly for anything else.
My new exercise: I am extremely right handed, and I have begun spending 20-40 minutes a day writing with my left, an exceedingly difficult task, one requiring serious focusing. The minute my mind wanders, so does my pencil. That new habit of focusing in so concrete an activity is beginning to spill over into the rest of my life. I now take time, when I do break into one focused point to introduce another, to plant the new “idea” firmly before starting to carry it out. Best of all, I am enjoying the new “game” and, naturally, the accompanying prowess that I am feeling.
While I don’t think that I have the “true memory problem” of forgetfulness that you suggest, I’ll take it up with the neurologist I’ll be seeing in a few weeks. I do keep an agenda for meetings and appointments, because life does get crowded. I never, on the other hand, forget to go swimming on schedule, although I may forget an indifferent movie within a few days. Rather a blessing.
Again, thank you for being so generous with your time and energy. It got me going. I am contemplating a series of Left-hand Poems. I don’t think that I’ll forget to do so.
With warmest good wishes,
Kossia Orloff
We are two healthy married people (husband & wife)in our mid-80′s and we are experiencing memory problems.
We are looking for classes and/or group activity that will help prevent dementia.
Does the Mayo Clinic offer such a program?
Where do we go from here?
Thanks,
M
Ms. Creason,
Some forgetfulness is a normal part of aging, but it is common to worry that it may lead to dementia caused by Alzheimer’s disease. Right now, there’s no proven way to prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s disease, but there’s plenty you can do to reduce your risk, delay symptoms, and feel confident that you are doing all you can to keep your memory in shape. The most important lifestyle habits include: daily physical exercise; eating a brain healthy diet such as a Mediterranean type diet; building brain reserving by doing such activities as playing board games, crosswords, learning the computer, or taking an art class; maintaining good sleep hygiene to restore memory; and managing stress.
Based on these principes and their own research on behavioral rehabilitation for amnestic mild cognitive impairment, Mayo Clinic recently began a new program called HABIT- Healthy Actions to Benefit Independence and Thinking. HABIT is a 10-day (50-hour), intensive outpatient program for persons who have received a diagnosis of Mild Cognitive Impairment. It is a holistic & comprehensive program that proactively addresses cognitive changes and incorporates new habits for overall health and wellness in 5 areas: MEMORY COMPENSATION TRAINING, BRAIN FITNESS, GROUP THERAPY, MIND-BODY MOVEMENT & WELLNESS EDUCATION
Interested individuals who have received a diagnosis on Mild Cognitive Impairment are invited to attend an Informational Orientation. For more information including orientations and program dates, please contact Angela Lunde at lunde.angela@mayo.edu.
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Interesting story you got here. It would be great to read something more about this theme. Thnx for sharing this data.
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Important to note that we should stay active during the middle years to prevent Alzheimer’s in the later years – ounce of prevention ….
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I have been reading about memory loss/dementia/alzheimer’s, and I was wondering if there are any future surgical treatments coming soon in terms of computer memory chips for people suffering dementia or alzheimer’s?