Healthy Body, Healthy Mind
The study findings of the last few years underscore the importance of recognizing that many changes can be controlled or reversed. Simple modifications in lifestyle -- namely, exercise (both physical and mental) and stress reduction -- can go a long way toward keeping your mind fluid and fit. Physical ailments can have profound effects on cognitive functioning. The Scottish researchers note, for example, that hypertension might account for part of the effect of white matter abnormalities on cognition. And they observed that twins in their study with conditions such as higher blood pressure and poorer glucose tolerance in midlife had more white-matter abnormalities in old age. Other research has shown that men in their 40s with even mildly elevated blood pressure were more likely to have significant signs of brain aging in their 70s.
Staying physically fit can have tremendous rewards. MRIs have shown that adults who exercised more had significantly slower rates of brain-tissue loss, and animal experiments have found that nerve growth factors in the brain increase with exercise. Arthur Kramer, PhD, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, found that walking between 45 minutes and an hour just three days a week for six months was enough to induce positive changes. Other lifestyle changes, such as eating a healthy diet, may also keep glucose levels, cholesterol, and hypertension in check -- and in turn protect the brain.
Mental exercise also has its rewards. In the largest study of its kind, research funded by organizations including the National Institutes of Health revealed that several types of cognitive training (involving memory, reasoning, or speed of processing) were able to significantly improve memory, concentration, and problem-solving skills. In their study of more than 2,800 adults age 65 and older, those who had gone through weekly two-hour training sessions for five weeks performed significantly better on a variety of cognitive functioning tests, and those benefits persisted for two years after the training ended.
Another recent study at Washington University, involving brain scans, indicates that older adults often do not use regions of the brain best suited for memory processing. But with test aids and training they are able to use these areas more effectively, and regain the ability to create new memories. "Older adults appear to have plenty of underutilized cognitive resources that can be harnessed and used for more efficient memory processing," says Randy Buckner, PhD, professor of psychology at Washington University and senior author of the report.
Hilary Macht Felgran has also written for The New York Times and The Columbia Journalism Review.
Originally published in MORE magazine, May 2004.
