Data from 70 older adults (average age 76) in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging has found that those who reported poorer sleep (shorter sleep duration and lower sleep quality) showed a greater buildup of amyloid-beta plaques.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-10/tjnj-lsa101813.php
A pilot study involving 94 older adults, of whom 18 had Alzheimer’s, 24 had MCI, 26 other dementias, and 26 were healthy controls, has found those with Alzheimer’s were significantly less able to detect the smell of peanut butter. Peanut butter was chosen because of its purity and accessibility (not because there's something special about its smell!).
A small study involving 50 children and teens living in Mexico City (aged 13.4 ± 4.8 years) has found that those with the 'Alzheimer's gene' APOEε4 (22 of the 50) were more vulnerable to the effects of air pollution on cognition. Those with the gene variant had a reduced NAA/Cr ratio in the right frontal white matter (as those with Alzheimer's do), poorer attention and short-term memory, and below-average scores in Verbal and Full Scale IQ (>10 points), compared to those with the 'normal' ε3 variant.
Mindfulness meditation is associated with various positive benefits, one of which is improved attention, but it might not be all good. A new study suggests that it may have negative cognitive consequences.
The study included three experiments, in the first two of which undergraduates carried out a 15-minute guided exercise: one group was instructed to focus attention on their breathing without judgment (mindfulness group); the other group was told to think about whatever came to mind (mind-wandering group; the control).
I've reported before on studies showing how gesturing can help children with mathematics and problem-solving. A new Australian study involving children aged 9-13 has found that finger-tracing has a similar effect.
Students who used their finger to trace over practice examples while simultaneously reading geometry or arithmetic material were able to complete the problems more quickly and correctly than those who didn't use the same technique.
A randomized clinical trial of 268 active-duty personnel seeking treatment for PTSD has found that individual sessions of cognitive processing therapy were twice as effective as group sessions.
Participants were assigned to CPT in either 90-minute group sessions or 60-minute individual sessions twice weekly for six weeks. PTSD severity was reduced significantly more in those receiving individual treatment, however improvements were maintained during the six-month follow-up in both groups. Depression and suicidal ideation also improved equally with both forms of CPT.
A clinical trial involving 9361 older adults (50+) with hypertension but without diabetes or history of stroke has found that intensive control of blood pressure significantly reduced the risk of developing mild cognitive impairment.
While there was also a 15% reduction in dementia, this result did not reach statistical significance. This may have been due to the small number of new cases of dementia in the study groups.
Brain scans from over 4,000 people, across the age range (9 months to 94 years) and including 1,385 Alzheimer's patients, has revealed an early divergence between those who go on to develop Alzheimer’s and those who age normally. This divergence is seen in early atrophy of the hippocampus before age 40, and in the amygdala around age 40.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-03/c-ahd030819.php
Previous research uncovered a hormone called irisin that is released into the circulation during physical activity, and appeared to play a role in energy metabolism. Mice studies have now found that irisin protected memory and synapses in the brain — disabling irisin in the hippocampus resulted in synapses and memory weakening; boosting brain levels of irisin improved synapses and memory.
A Canadian study involving 45,522 adults (30+) found that higher levels of physical activity, eating more fruits and vegetables, and having a BMI in the normal weight or overweight range were each associated with better cognitive function in both younger and older adults.
Specifically, for those who were normal weight or overweight (but not obese), eating more than 10 servings of fruit and vegetable daily was linked to better cognitive functioning. When moderate exercise was added, those eating less than five servings, reported better cognitive functioning.