Parents and teachers are concerned about the toll on children’s education and development due to the closure of schools, libraries, gyms and extraordinary activities due to the Kovid-19 epidemic. But children are not the only ones at risk. Young people need augmentation to build cognitive ability, while adults, especially the elderly, need it to maintain cognitive ability and prevent neurodegeneration. In particular, decades of research show that mental, physical and social stimulation is one of the possible ways to overcome Alzheimer’s disease.
Studies have compared the cognitive performance of rats living in empty cages alone, living in large houses equipped with colored Lego blocks for mental stimulation, running wheels for exercise and other rats for social engagement. When the mice lived in a rich environment, their brains underwent physical changes: more neurons were produced in the brain’s memory center, hippocampus, and strong synaptic activity. Mice that modified their genomes to develop the equivalent of Alzheimer’s experienced advanced brain activity and they performed better in earlier flying maze tests.
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Mental stimulation can take many forms, from getting a higher education or working on a challenging job to reading a book, playing cards, or doing puzzles.
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The human need for breeding is not so different. For us, mental arousal takes many forms, from getting a higher education or reading a book on a mentally challenging job, playing cards or doing puzzles. The use of our brain helps maintain and increase its intensity. In 2000, PNAS An excellent study published in the journal showed that London taxi drivers, who should learn to navigate thousands of locations in the city, showed an expansion in the area of the brain responsible for space exploration.
Similarly, studies have shown that people who engage in frequently mentally stimulated activities can preserve their cognitive function and prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s. For example, in a community study in Chicago, older adults used a 5-point scale based on how much they participated in mentally stimulating activities, 5 most frequently and 1 least frequently. Four years later, those who scored were less likely to develop Alzheimer’s. In fact, a one-point increase in activity score is associated with a 64% reduction in disease risk.
When it comes to physical exercise, cognitive researchers favor aerobic exercises such as jogging and cycling as well as anaerobic exercises such as weightlifting. Er Robic exercises can pump our heart, increase blood flow to the brain, increase the supply of oxygen and nutrients, protect neurons from oxidative stress and fight inflammation. An analysis of 10 studies with a combined 23,000 participants found that physically active older adults were 40% less likely to develop Alzheimer’s.
A man paints a landscape in a care facility for Alzheimer’s patients in Germany, 2018.
Photo:
Peter Canefell / Picture Attachment / Getty Images
When it comes to social connectivity, researchers emphasize two components: maintaining a large social network of family and friends and participating regularly in social activities such as clubs, religious services, or volunteer work. In socialization, talking, listening and interacting with others, bringing together certain areas of the brain that also support memory and other cognitive activities. Social support also reduces stress, which in turn increases cognitive function. Studies show that older adults who have a larger social network and participate in more social activities have a lower cognitive decline and a lower risk of dementia.
All of these findings come from observational studies that look at people’s current lifestyles and cognitive health, as opposed to providing them with “lifestyle treatments” and then evaluating cognitive outcomes. The gold standard in modern medicine is randomized, blind, placebo-controlled trials, which are more quantitative and objective, and there have been only a few such trials of lifestyle treatments for dementia and Alzheimer’s.
Those that exist have shown different results. For example, a study published in the Journal of Applied Neuropsychology in 2003 found that while mental exercise can train people to perform better in specific tasks such as memorizing words from a list, the effect does not turn into cognitive improvement as a whole. Clinical trials on social engagement are currently lacking.
One reason behind not adequately studying the cognitive benefits of lifestyle prosperity is that non-secular treatments such as physical exercise cannot be easily patented, so pharmaceutical companies are not interested in investing. Placebos are also difficult to use. In drug trials, a similar sugar pill and test drug are rarely assigned to participants, but not equivalent to a sugar pill for breeding activities. Instead, either the control group receives no intervention, a fact that cannot be easily concealed to avoid bias, or they receive some other intervention that may have an impact on their own and confusing trial outcomes.
Moreover, the benefits of breeding activities may not reproduce well in a lab environment. A study published in the journal Neurobiology DF Disease in 2009 found that when transgenic Alzheimer’s mice were provided with a running cycle and exercised at their own free will, they were placed on a motor-driven treadmill and operated. Experiencing more cognitive benefits than that. . Researchers theorized that “the mental distress associated with forced running … reduced the beneficial effects of voluntary exercise.” The same can be said for humans: running on a treadmill in the lab can have a different effect than exercising by choice at home.
Indeed, the very nature of breeding activities contradicts the philosophy of modern clinical trials. Clinical trials are about isolating and refining chemical treatments to evaluate its specific effects. But real life nurturing activities include many sources of excitement: participating in math lectures or playing cards can be psychologically exciting but can also involve a bit of social compromise. Dancing and tai chi gain momentum in our bodies, but we also need to remember the choreography.
When it comes to cognitive benefits, we do less important things than that: read a book, travel with friends, learn chess, join a courier. Your life is as if someone has opened the gate. Don’t we have to do that? If it helps our brains, it’s just right on top.
.M. He is Professor of Technical and Scientific Communications at Kansas State University. This essay is adapted from his new book “Mind Thief: The Story of Alzheimer’s”, which will be published by Columbia University Press next month.
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