For some people, the aging process affects the brain all too soon, and it can lead to diminished cognitive function, to add to this around 10% of those with mild cognitive impairment develop forms of dementia every year. A study recently published in the Journal of Cognitive Enhancement from the Texas A&M University School of Public Health suggests that those with mild cognitive impairment who engage in brain training activities have better cognitive function which may help to protect their brain.
Brain Fitness
Brain training involves engaging in mentally stimulating activities such as doing word games, jigsaw puzzles, reading a book, hobbies, card games, and learning a new skill or language to boost brain fitness. This study found that those who engaged in high levels of mentally stimulating activities had better memory, working memory, attention, and processing speed than those who didn’t.
“Today, nearly six million people in the United States have dementia, and this number is projected to grow to about 14 million by 2060 — with minority populations affected the most,” said Dr. Junhyoung “Paul” Kim, an associate professor of health behavior at Texas A&M. “We sought to help fill the gap in our understanding of cognitive decline.”
The Study
Along with researchers from the University of Southern Mississippi and Indiana University, the team from Texas A&M analyzed data from 5,932 people aged 50+ with mild cognitive impairment who were enrolled in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) from 2012 to 2020 to examine the benefits of brain training in preventing or postponing cognitive decline. That data included surveys, phone interviews along with other data.
Among the questions, the participants gave details about how often they engaged in mentally stimulating activities and what they were. Then the participants were divided into groups depending on their participation levels: low, mid, and high based on criteria used in previous studies and conducted repeated-measures multivariate analysis of covariance.
Higher Cognitive Function
“In short, the high-level participation group consistently exhibited higher cognitive function levels during the study period and maintained a similar level of cognitive functions compared to the other groups,” Kim said.
The analysis revealed that those in the high-level group had higher levels of memory, working memory, and attention and processing speed than those in the mid- and low-level groups. Those in the mid-level category had higher levels of working memory, attention, and processing speed than those in the low-level group.
“We also found significant differences in all three cognitive functions between years with a declining slope, but the differences between 2014 and the other years of the data set that were examined were not significant,” Kim said.
According to the researchers, healthcare providers should recommend that older people with mild cognitive impairment should train their brains by playing games, reading, or engaging in similarly mentally stimulating activities at least three to four times a week.
“In addition, we hope that barriers to doing this, such as inadequate caregiver support and financial constraints, could be overcome through stronger public care services and community support networks,” Kim said
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