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Aging

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Does mental stimulation help fight age-related cognitive decline?
  • A large study found that mentally stimulating activities in mid-life and later were linked to a lower risk or delay of MCI.
  • A very large study found that the more regularly older adults played puzzles such as crosswords and Sudoku, the better they performed on tasks assessing attention, reasoning and memory.
  • A review of 32 studies has concluded that mind-body exercises such as tai chi do help improve cognition in older adults.

Can computer use, crafts and games slow or prevent age-related memory loss?

Some cognitive training helps less-educated older adults more
  • A large study in which older adults underwent various types of cognitive training has found that less-educated adults benefited more from training designed to speed processing.

Data from 2,800 participants (aged 65+) in the Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly (ACTIVE) study has revealed that one type of cognitive training benefits less-educated people more than it does the more-educated.

Hearing loss linked to increased cognitive decline & dementia risk
  • A very large Taiwanese study found that adults with hearing loss had a higher dementia risk, and this was particularly so for those aged 45-64.
  • A very large Japanese study found that a dramatically greater proportion of older adults (65+) with hearing loss reported memory loss, compared to much fewer of those without hearing loss.
  • A very large study found that older adults (50+) who used hearing aids for hearing loss showed better performance on tests of working memory and attention compared with those who didn't use hearing aids for their hearing loss.
  • A large long-running study found that, while hearing impairment was associated with accelerated cognitive decline in older adults (mean age 73.5), the impact might be lessened by higher education.
  • A very large 8-year study found that hearing loss was associated with higher risk of subjective cognitive decline in older men (62+).
  • A very small study suggests that cognitive problems in some older adults may derive directly from hearing impairments, and may be fixed by addressing this.
  • A large, long-running study found that eating a healthy diet was associated with a lower risk of acquired hearing loss in women.

Hearing loss linked to increased dementia risk

Physical activity linked to better brain health & cognition in older adults
  • A study found that older adults remembered names better after moderately intense exercise.
  • A large, long-running study found that each hour of light physical activity per week was linked to less brain atrophy.
  • Similarly, another long-running study reported that higher levels of lifestyle physical activity were associated with less brain atrophy.

Exercise activates brain networks in older adults

A study involving healthy older adults (55-85) found that recall was better after a session of moderately intense exercise, and several crucial brain regions showed greater activation.

Movie study confirms older people are more distractible

Idiosyncratic brain activity among older people watching a thriller-type movie adds to evidence that:

  • age may affect the ability to perceive and remember the order of events (explaining why older adults may find it harder to follow complex plots)
  • age affects the ability to focus attention and not be distracted
  • age affects the brain's connectivity — how well connected regions work together.

A study involving 218 participants aged 18-88 has looked at the effects of age on the brain activity of participants viewing an edited version of a 1961 Hitchcock TV episode (given that participants viewed the movie while in a MRI machine, the 25 minute episode was condensed to 8 minutes).

Older adults' distractability can be used to help put a face to a name
  • A small study has used older adults’ inability to ignore irrelevant information to improve their memory for face-name pairs.

One important reason for the greater cognitive problems commonly experienced as we age, is our increasing difficulty in ignoring distracting and irrelevant information. But it may be that in some circumstances that propensity can be used to help memory.

Major heart surgery not much worse for cognition than other heart treatments
  • A large study found that older adults experiencing heart surgery showed more long-term cognitive decline than those having a less invasive treatment, but not a great deal more.

Data from 3,105 older adults (65+) who had either heart surgery or cardiac catheterization has found that those who had heart surgery didn’t experience much greater cognitive decline compared with those who had the much less invasive, catheter-based procedure.

Aerobic exercise improves cognition in healthy older adults

A six-month pilot study involving 101 healthy older adults (65+), who were randomly put into one of three exercise interventions or a no-change control, has found that the exercise groups all showed significant improvement in visual-spatial processing and attention, with more improvement in visua

Greater muscle strength = better cognitive function
  • While handgrip strength has been linked to dementia risk in the elderly, a new study indicates that less impaired or fragile older adults need upper and lower body strength tests — but that these, too, are correlated with cognitive function.

A Finnish study involving 338 older adults (average age 66) has found that greater muscle strength is associated with better cognitive function.

Older people less apt to recognize they've made a mistake
  • A small study has found that older adults (average age 68) are less able to recognize when they made errors.

A small study comparing 38 younger adults (average age 22) and 39 older adults (average age 68) found that the older adults were less able to recognize when they made errors.

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