Aging

A large study, involving nearly 14,000 older adults (50+) participating in the 2006 Health and Retirement Study, found that weaker handgrip strength was associated with a greater risk of developing cognitive impairment, especially severe impairment, over the eight-year study period.

Moreover, there was a dose-response type relationship, with every 5-kilogram (11-pound) reduction in handgrip strength being associated with a 10% greater risk of cognitive impairment and an 18% greater risk of severe cognitive impairment.

A small UK study involving 28 healthy older adults (20 women with average age 70; 8 men with average age 67), has found that those with higher levels of aerobic fitness experienced fewer language failures such as 'tip-of-the-tongue' states.

The association between the frequency of tip-of-the-tongue occurrences (TOTs) and aerobic fitness levels existed even when age and vocabulary size was accounted for. Education level didn't affect TOTs, but only a few of the participants hadn't gone to university, so the study wasn't really in a position to test this out.

An Australian study involving 102 older adults (60-90) has concluded that physical fitness and arterial stiffness account for a great deal of age-related memory decline.

A long-running study involving 454 older adults who were given physical exams and cognitive tests every year for 20 years has found that those who moved more than average maintained more of their cognitive skills than people who were less active than average, even if they have brain lesions or biomarkers linked to dementia.

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.

The recall task involved identifying famous names and non famous ones. The test occurred 30 minutes after the exercise session (using an exercise bike) and on a separate day after a period of rest.

Lowering blood pressure prevents worsening brain damage in elderly

A clinical trial involving 199 hypertensive older adults (average age 81) found that those who took medicine to keep their 24-hour systolic blood pressure around 130 mm Hg for three years showed 40% less accumulation of white matter lesions compared with those taking medicine to maintain a systolic blood pressure around 145 mm Hg.

Although first reported in 1816, the fact that the brain is surrounded by lymphatic vessels, which connect the brain and the immune system, was only rediscovered in 2015.

A study involving 54 older adults (55-80), who possessed at least one risk factor for a stroke, found that those with white matter damage caused by silent strokes reported poor attentiveness and being distracted more frequently on day-to-day tasks. Despite these complaints, about half of these people scored within the normal range on tests of attention and executive function.

It’s suggested that adults who notice that they frequently lose their train of thought or often become sidetracked may in fact be displaying early symptoms of cerebral small vessel disease.

Perivascular spaces are fluid-filled spaces around the cerebral small vessels, commonly seen on brain scans in older adults. They have been thought to be harmless, but a new study challenges this belief.

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.

Two years after the surgery, surgery participants showed a greater amount of decline equal to only 4.6 months of cognitive aging compared with those undergoing catheterization.

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-12/e-bhn121818.php