Edited from STLToday.com (U.S.) report on "brain stretching".
In a retirement community in Virginia, USA, eighty two year old Glenys Dyer, draws Queen Elizabeth on the tiny screen of her Nintendo video game player. Suddenly, her instructor - a cartoon figure on the screen, tells her to shift gears and draw a picture of herself, then read a passage from a novel aloud. These "Brain Age" exercises are designed to help the brain with rapid calculation and rapid reading". She and her husband are part of a brain health movement currently sweeping such communities across the country.
Much as physical fitness buffs hit the gym daily, older people are doing brain exercises to tone their minds. The theory is that mental stimulation slows memory loss and other cognitive declines associated with ageing.
Encouraged by research suggesting the brain can sprout new cells and rewire existing ones late in life, retirement communities are supplementing their usual lineup of bingo and art classes with new video games, Sudoku puzzles and computer activities.
In addition to their Brain Age game, the Dyers stretch their brains with several computer programmes, including one called "Brain Fitness". Other retirement communities across the US offer the software developed by neuro-scientists in California, who say it improves memory by teaching the brain to interpret sounds faster and more accurately.
Elsewhere, residents of other communities do giant crossword puzzles together, or play virtual bowling on the Nintendo Wii, a video game that administrators hope will challenge residents' visual and motor skills.
The director at one centre reports that in the past year they have made a big push to get the mind working, - not just stimulated, but actively working on topics, because research shows that keeping your brain powered up fights Alzheimer's Disease.
Scientists seem to agree that eating fresh fruits and vegetable, doing regular aerobic exercise, performing challenging mental tasks, and engaging in social pursuits can defend the brain against age and disease.
Physical exercise and so-called brain food have long been regarded as good for mental health - exercise because it boosts blood circulation and gives the brain more oxygen; and foods rich in antioxidants, such as fish, fruits and vegetables, because the antioxidants attack cell-destroying agents.
More recently, attention is being focused on brain exercise as neuro-scientists make fresh discoveries watched closely by baby-boomers, worried about approaching old age.
The baby-boom generation may be the biggest catalyst of the brain-fitness boom. They have just started turning 60, and the US over-65 population will double between 2000 and 2030 - from 35 million to 72 million. The forecast has triggered an entrepreneurial rush to supply them with anti-aging products.
Retirement communities are not the only market for brain exercise. A growing body of research suggests that mental activity in middle age and earlier can help later in life. As a result, websites are springing up to offer online games to people of all ages, while blogs provide commentary on the fledgling industry.
"No technology trend in fitness has gotten more media attention than cognition training," says one professor at George Mason University who studies brain-training products. "What's driving it is the jump we are seeing in Alzheimer's Disease, which is an age-related."
Alzheimer's Disease is degenerative. Gradually, large numbers of the brain's 200 billion nerve cells degrade and die. The Alzheimer's population, currently 5 million in the US, is projected to jump to 7.7 million by 2030, - by the time the last of the baby-boomers have reached 65.
The US Alzheimer's Association has promoted all four in the 5,000 "Maintain Your Brain" workshops it has conducted over the past three years at retirement centres and corporate workplaces.
But because all human brains lose nerve cells as they age, brain decay is wider. Typically, brain neurons start dying when people are in their 20s, a loss that accelerates and eventually causes cognitive decline that tends to show up first in memory and hearing.
"Scientists have known for decades that brain decay is not inevitable, because long-term studies have shown that some minds stay relatively sharp while others decline dramatically", says Shlomo Breznitz, psychology professor at University of Haifa in Israel, and developer of a brain-training programme called MindFit. More recent studies suggest a key difference may be the extent to which our brains are challenged throughout life. "People who engage in very challenging tasks, - not just in work but during leisure activities, such as reading, crossword puzzles, bridge, chess and travel, tend to slow down their mental ageing process very significantly," says Breznitz.
Scientists say that to be effective, mental activity must become progressively more challenging, otherwise, the brain adjusts and learns to perform repetitive tasks with less effort.
Also contributing to the brain work-out boom are state-of-the-art imaging techniques that have allowed scientists to validate a theory developed decades ago. By taking detailed pictures of brain neurons, scientists watch parts of the brain that had seemed dormant, light up and assume new responsibilities in response to stimuli. Theoretically, this means brain decay can be halted - or even reversed.
"The brain is constantly rewiring and recalibrating itself in response to what you do," says Henry Mahncke, doctor of neuro-science at Posit Science, the San Francisco developer of the Brain Fitness software. "It remakes itself into a more efficient operation to do the things you ask it to do." The trick, of course, is finding the right stimuli, - no trivial task.
Image source: ralphmag.org
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