Findings recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association say that if older adults take simple steps—physical exercise, improved diet, and engagement with others—it's a big plus in keeping Alzheimer's disease at bay.
Dr. Laura Baker, of Wake Forest University in North Carolina,
led the U.S. randomized clinical trial called POINTER, or "Protect Brain Health Through Lifestyle Intervention to Reduce Risk," that included 2,111 adults between the ages of 60 and 79 over two years in what is the largest-ever lifestyle intervention trial for Alzheimer's disease in U.S. history. The test subjects were split into structured and self-guided intervention groups.
And while brain health—cognitive function—improved in both groups, the group getting structured support experienced more of a benefit from the support than those in the self-guided group.
As Baker noted, shortly after the release of the study this summer, changing up one's routine, even in your sixties, can slow the cognitive-aging clock by one or two years.
When it comes to adding color to your plate, Baker told a July Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Toronto where she
presented the results that the findings recommend a low-salt diet with a focus on brain-healthy foods like coldwater fish, whole grains, dark leafy greens, and berries. The structured group participants also completed "brain training" computer games three times a week, and usually got cardiovascular exercise for 30 minutes, four days a week.
Over the course of the two-year study, the structured group met nearly 40 times with their peers. This is where they set health goals and kept one another accountable. As for the self-guided group, they only met six times over the two-year time period.
At the same time, both groups received the same information.
A big takeaway from the U.S. POINTER study was that it showed that non-pharmacological interventions targeting modifiable risk factors are promising, relatively low-cost, accessible, and safe. This is key in the ongoing search for new interventions to slow and prevent the cognitive decline associated with dementia, the study noted.
Sleep Remains Important Yet Oft-Overlooked
The Pointer study, released in July, received positive attention. But some researchers noted that the study, based on an identical Finnish study conducted in 2015, did not look at the factor of sleep as part of the research.An investigative
article out this week highlighted just how important adequate sleep is in maintaining good brain health into old age.
In fact, a study at the University of California at Berkeley, led by professor
Matthew Walker, an award-winning sleep scientist and
author of the book "Why We Sleep," revealed that deep sleep is a critical factor in mitigating memory loss due to Alzheimer's.
Sleep is key in maintaining brain health, as studies prove that sleep disorders are linked to cognitive aging, and that chronically-short sleep is linked to higher incidences of dementia, lower memory performance, and faster cognitive decline. Modifying your sleep can keep cognitive decline at bay, the report added.
