Preventing Memory Issues - What Really Works?

This month, a study appeared to show that gentle exercise could prevent worsening of dementia. Research published in Neurology, a medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology showed that a group with an average age of 74, living with vascular dementia, showed a small improvement in their overall thinking, decision making and organisational skills when they exercised for one hour, 3 times a week over 6 months, when compared to people who did no exercise. Vascular dementia affects the blood vessels in the brain, so perhaps it wasn't surprising that increasing the blood flow through exercise made an impact - however the effect appears to have been short lived. 6 months after stopping the workouts, the impact was no longer apparent.

Another study looking at speed of reaction training was more positive and appears to show longer term effects. To date there's been little evidence to support the idea that keeping the mind active wards off dementia or maintains brain function. In 2014 a group of more than seventy academics stated that playing brain games had been shown to improve little more than the ability to play brain games. “Perhaps the most pernicious claim, devoid of any scientifically credible evidence, is that brain games prevent or reverse Alzheimer’s disease,” the group stated.

However a new study, gives the first evidence that training speed of brain's processing and attention to visual cues, just as in a game, does in fact reduce the chance of being diagnosed with dementia. Researchers used a game to briefly show images on a computer screen and then asked them to differentiate between the pictures and where they appeared on the screen. The system increased the speed of presenting the images as well as the complexity of the background and, just like a good game, stayed just ahead of the participants. The study started in 1998 and has involved almost three thousand people split into four groups. One received no intervention, one was helped with memory training and another with reasoning while the last went through the speed of reaction programme. Some of this group also went through booster training sessions. The results showed that those who were in the speed of reasoning group and took up some of the booster sessions were 48% less likely to be diagnosed with dementia after ten years than their peers in the control, no intervention group. The reasoning and memory classes, meanwhile, appeared to have no effect.

This research was led by Jerri Edwards, an associate professor in the School of Aging Studies at the University of South Florida, who's been studying speed of processing for some time. Previous work has shown that speed of processing training can reduce the risk of drivers being at fault in an accident, but there's still caution about the findings. The results need to be replicated in other studies, but it does look promising.

For me, the concept sounds remarkably like the experience of playing a challenging game. You are constantly scanning the screen for threats or your next move and you have to react quickly to progress. The game keeps pace with your ability and stretches you just enough to maintain enjoyment and excitement, while minimising frustration. The research suggests that it's not the puzzle to solve or the test of memory or reasoning that makes the difference, it's the stimulus to process information quickly that makes the brain adapt and maintain function. This is really exciting and I'm looking forward to seeing more work to validate this approach.

Sadly, another widely quoted preventative measure, that 3 glasses of champagne a week can stave of dementia are not backed up by science. The original research, from the University of Reading in 2013, was carried out with rats and hasn't been replicated or validated in humans. More generally, numerous studies have suggested links between obesity, high blood pressure and dementia or other cognitive impairments. We all know eating less and exercising more is good for our heart health, if it keeps our minds healthy as well, that's a real incentive.