Mental Exercise

Mental Exercise

Washington Post

The Book On Brain Fitness

Ten sessions of exercises to boost reasoning skills, memory and mental processing speed staved off mental decline in middle-aged and elderly people in the first definitive study to show that honing intellectual skills can bolster the mind in the same way that physical exercise protects and strengthens the body.

The researchers also showed that the benefits of the brain exercises extended well beyond the specific skills the volunteers learned. Older adults who did the basic exercises followed by later sessions were three times as fast as those who got only the initial sessions when it came to activities of daily living, such as reacting to a road sign, looking up a number in a telephone book or checking the ingredients on a medicine bottle -- abilities that can spell the difference between living independently and needing help."

Experts said the federally funded study is a call to action for anyone who has ever worried about developing Alzheimer's, dementia and similar disorders. Americans spend billions of dollars each year on their physical well-being, but there are no comparable efforts to keep people mentally agile and strong.

Researchers noted that mental skills can sometimes compensate for physical disabilities: Knowing how to figure out directions and find a new route on a map, for example, could allow someone to retain mobility even after their night vision deteriorates to the point where driving on certain roads becomes difficult.

The study tracked 2,802 healthy adults from diverse backgrounds who were, on average, 73 years old. Although it did not examine the effects of mental exercise on people who had begun to show signs of Alzheimer's or other brain disorders, previous studies have pointed toward the conclusion that anyone can benefit.

"People think education is for people who are already educated," said Michael Marsiske, one of the researchers. "This kind of training works no matter where you are in society."

"If you think you have come to a time in your life when new learning is impossible and there are no benefits of continuing mental activity, the study shows that for a large number of people that this is not true," added Marsiske, a clinical and health psychologist at the University of Florida at Gainesville.

The participants in the study ranged from age 65 to their early 90s, but Marsiske said the findings apply to people in their 50s or even younger. Mental skills acquired earlier in life persist well into old age, he said.

The study did not indicate that mental training can hold off all cognitive decline permanently. Rather, as is the case with physical exercise, strengthening the mind appeared to slow decline.

Sherry L. Willis, the lead author of the study and a Pennsylvania State University professor of human development, said those who had the training also reported greater confidence in their ability to solve everyday problems, and this was especially true of the group that got the reasoning training. In performing daily functions, people who got the speed training along with a handful of follow-up sessions significantly outperformed those who did not get such training.

The results, being published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association, are heartening, but Willis and Marsiske cautioned that the biggest challenge lies ahead, in getting people to apply the findings to their lives. Whether it is encouraging people to eat right or to exercise, they said, the hardest part is not getting them to start doing the right things but getting them to keep doing the right things.

"It's just like physical exercise -- when we are approaching the new year we will buy a pass for the gym and go fervently in January and then slack off," Willis said. "Mental exercise is the same way. It has to be consistent, and it has to be challenging. Just like you have to keep increasing the weights at the gym to make it challenging, you have to do the same with mental activity."

To reap the benefits, Willis said, people need to get outside their comfort zones. For someone who likes to solve crossword puzzles, it is important to make sure the puzzles get harder with time -- or to start playing chess. Someone who hates to play games, she said, should find something else that stretches the mind. Mental activities do not have to involve expensive toys; everyday life can offer a variety of mental challenges. Finding a friend who can join in a new activity can be a powerful motivator, she added.

Sally Shumaker, a professor of public health science at Wake Forest University in North Carolina who wrote an editorial accompanying the study, said it pointed the way to a future in which mental training is made widely available.

"I can imagine a situation in which facilities are available in community centers and libraries and aging centers, where people can play some games that are specifically designed to improve cognitive ability," she said. "People are fearful of cognitive decline, and the idea that a small and simple intervention can have an impact is pretty compelling."

Mental Exercise at Your Computer

Want mental exercise? Anything new that involves a challenge will help.

I have been reading about the fairly new concept of brain fitness for a year or so, and have even tried out some of the computerized brain fitness programs that are so new to the market place.

The brain fitness folks are saying the mental exercise that I would need to try which keeps my neuroplasticity and neurogenesis going involves activities like learning a new language, learning a new musical instrument, or using a computerized brain fitness program like the Posit Science Brain Fitness Program.

Not sure about you, but at 61, with youngsters, and a bricks and mortar business to take care of, I do not have time to learn a new language or a new musical instrument, but since I am usually working at my computer I can weave in some time for computerized brain fitness programs.

Even with time and access, I would like to make sure I am using a tool that has some research to back it up.

The Posit Science Program was just evaluated in the IMPACT study, of over 500 senior citizens. Look at the video below to take a look at what participants and researchers alike had to say.

Mental Exercise Equals Brainfit for Life