Brain Training for Mental Fitness

by Monique Johnson, MD, CCMEP

I’m always on the lookout for interesting topics and intriguing points of view to cover in our Clinical Compass™ newsletters. And this topic surfaced—as such topics often do—in the seemingly most innocent and unlikely of places. I was waiting in the café area of my local Barnes & Noble for the barista to create my skinny soy sugar-free vanilla frappuccino no-whip, when I spotted it: a new display table with a placard stating “Brain Awareness Month”. As I perused the collection of books the store had assembled for the display, I realized that there was a lot of focus on the science of how our brains age and how “exercising” our brains can keep them sharper longer. Here are the juicy details:

Cognitive training research is not new.
Much of what we know about how the brain ages over the life span comes from the Seattle Longitudinal Study(1-3) and the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging.(4,5) Findings from the Seattle Longitudinal Study support that vocabulary continues to increase into late life, as do problem-solving and reasoning skills. Also, mental decline is, as least in part, a function of disuse. In one study, cognitive training led to significant improvement in 40% of a cohort of community-dwelling older people. According to the Baltimore Longitudinal Study, two of the primary factors found to be associated with preventing decline in mental ability were involvement in a complex and mentally stimulating environment and maintaining high levels of processing speed.

Exercising our brain can influence generation of neurons and connection.
Thanks to new neuroimaging techniques, neuroscientists and cognitive psychologists have learned that the brain has a number of “core capacities” and “mental muscles” that can be exercised through novelty, variety, and practice.(1-6) The key message here is that our brains stay denser the more we use them because use builds synapses. The ratio of synapses to neurons increases for people who continue to use their brains, and neuronal growth factors are released as a result of neuronal transmission itself.

Brain fitness training is becoming a national research priority.
Early research indicating that a number of cognitive abilities can be assessed and trained has prompted the development of the Research Partnership in Cognitive Aging.(7) This partnership between the NIH National Institute on Aging (NIA) and the McKnight Brain Research Foundation (MBRF) is seeking ways to maintain the ability to think, learn, and remember into old age. The partnership is will award up to $28 million over five years to 17 research grants to examine the neural and behavioral profiles of healthy cognitive aging and explore interventions that may prevent, reduce, or reverse cognitive decline.

“Brain Games” is a growing industry.
You have probably heard of Brain Age, the game software from Nintendo inspired by the prominent Japanese neuroscientist, Dr. Ryuta Kawashima. The fact of the matter is that there are numerous other products that many companies are currently selling direct to consumers to sharpen certain mental abilities. Some estimates suggest that brain fitness training as an emerging market in the United States grew from $100 million in 2005 to $225 million in 2007.(8)

In summary, brain exercise is being recognized as a critical component of brain health that, together with nutrition, physical exercise, and stress management, can help us stay sharper longer.

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Reference

1. The Seattle Longitudinal Study. http://geron.psu.edu/sls/about/index.htm. Accessed March 21, 2010.
2. Schaie KW. Observations from The Seattle Longitudinal Study of adult intelligence. John Hopkins Memory Bull 2005;28:23-30.
3. Boron JB, et al. Cognitive training gain as a predictor of mental status. J Gerontol 2007;62B:45-52.
4. Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging. http://www.grc.nia.nih.gov/branches/blsa/blsa.htm. Accessed March 21, 2010.
5. Arenberg D. Longitudinal changes in cognitive performance. Adv Neurol 1990;51:207-209.
6. Willis SL, et al. Long-term effects of cognitive training on everyday functional outcomes in older adults. JAMA 2006;296;2805-2814.
7. Partnership in Cognitive Aging Research. http://www.fnih.org. Accessed March 21, 2010.
8. Fernandez A. Brain Training Games: Context, Trends, Questions. http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/02/15/brain-training-games-context-trends-questions/Sharp Brains. Accessed March 21, 2010.