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How lifestyle and diet reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s
Stephanie Guzowski (Psychology Today Online)

The elderly are a treasure trove of wise and witty anecdotes. Their lifetime’s worth of memories link us to the past and serve as a bridge to the future. Vivid recollections may even keep a person “young at heart.” So when dementia deprives older people of memory, language, and ultimately, personality, it’s not just devastating for them, it’s a horrible loss for their family and friends as well.

Alzheimer’s disease, caused by a steady accumulation of amyloid plaque proteins in the brain, is the most common source of dementia. About 4.5 million Americans have the disorder, and it is estimated that by the year 2050, that number could approach 20 million. There is no known cure. But recent research has uncovered a new gene—SORL1—that, when functioning normally, protects against and reduces the likelihood of developing Alzheimer’s. The finding is bound to help unravel some of dementia’s causes.

A family history of Alzheimer’s and increasing age are primary risk factors. But there is growing evidence that improving your lifestyle and diet can preserve your mental faculties and cut your risk of developing mind-robbing disorders.

• Stretch Your Mind. Don’t let your thinking gears get rusty. Mental activity strengthens brain cells and neural connections, and may even give rise to new nerve cells. Engaging in stimulating leisure activities throughout your life can reduce the risk of dementia by about half, according to Australian researchers. Reading, writing, completing crossword puzzles, or even visiting a museum produces positive changes in the hippocampus, part of the brain affected by dementia. Mastering a new language is also beneficial: Among bilinguals, the onset of dementia begins some four years later than it does for monolinguals.
  The brain’s malleability allows for neural connections to continue to form late in life. Researchers at UC Irvine discovered that short, repeated learning sessions slowed the buildup of a protein in the brain known to lead to plaques and tangles—symptoms of Alzheimer’s. The take-away for humans is that it’s never too late to begin exercising your mind. Even ordinary activities done in a novel way, such as brushing your teeth with the opposite hand or taking a different route to work can enrich brain cell connections.
• Keep in Touch. A strong network of family and friends can also lower your risk of dementia. Social activity lessens depression and reduces stress levels, which helps maintain connections among brain cells. Volunteering, joining a club, or traveling can add four years to one’s life, according to Harvard researchers. It’s no surprise then that lonely individuals, in their later years, may be twice as likely to develop the type of dementia linked to Alzheimer’s.
• Hit That Treadmill. One of the best ways to care for your mind is to keep your heart healthy. Aerobic exercise improves oxygen consumption, which benefits brain functioning. A brisk half hour walk, bicycling, swimming, or dancing each day promotes good blood flow to the brain and stimulates new brain-cell growth. Such activity lowers the risk of dementia and slows cognitive decline in those who already have dementia. Because of the connection between the brain and cardiovascular system, reducing risks of heart attacks, strokes, and diabetes also protects against Alzheimer’s disease.
• Brain Food. Eating an apple a day could keep Alzheimer’s away. Apples and apple juice, along with a balanced diet, can protect against cell damage linked to age-related memory loss, according to research from Cornell University and the University of Massachusetts. Fresh apples contain high levels of the antioxidant quercetin; eating at least one a day can help protect brain cells against oxidative stress, a tissue-damaging process associated with Alzheimer’s.

Fresh veggies and fish are just as good for your brain as they are for your body. Eating foods rich in folate, along with the use of supplements, may reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s, suggests a report in Archives of Neurology. Folate can be found in spinach, dry beans, peas, fortified cereals, grain products, and some fruits and vegetables. And those who eat fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids (salmon, trout, and albacore tuna) have higher levels of the fatty acid DHA in their blood, which significantly lowers the risk of developing dementia and Alzheimer’s.

And as we grow older, each of us becomes more likely to experience intermittent bouts of forgetfulness. But taking action now could help ensure that you’ll remain sharp for years to come—with plenty of tales to tell.

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Moderate exercise could save your body and your head
Carlin Flora (Psyched for Success)

Perhaps you’ve resisted exercise all these years because you’re more interested in the life of the mind than the oh-so-vain pursuit of corporeal perfection. But while all the news of exercise’s benefits to your heart and lungs hasn’t gotten your nose out of books and your sneakers out of the closet, you may now be persuaded to move. Physical activity, it turns out, could save not just your body but also your precious head. Lifelong exercise has been shown to decrease cellular aging in the brain: Moderately active rats have more robust brain cells than their sedentary fellow rats, researchers from the McKnight Brain Institute of the University of Florida found.

That means regular mild exercise can evidently prevent brain deterioration in humans, too, says Thomas Foster, Evelyn McKnight chair for brain research in memory loss at the University of Florida’s College of Medicine. Oxidative damage, a natural consequence of aging, contributes to memory loss and has been implicated in development of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. It occurs when oxygen molecules become free radicals, renegades that damage cell tissues. Rats that had access to an exercise wheel were found to have fewer byproducts of oxidative stress in their brains than those that did not.

Fit rats also showed healthier DNA. “The DNA for these animals after two years looked as if it were from their younger counterparts of only about 6 months of age,” Foster said. Because damage to DNA causes cell mutations and cell death, finding ways to preserve it may help prevent age-related memory failure and defend against loss of balance and motor function. “By age 50 almost everyone has mild memory deficits. We forget where we put the keys or jumble the names of our kids. If these losses increase, then we run into problems.”

Cheer up, couch potatoes—we’re not talking marathons or even hour-long spin classes here. “For this study animals were not forced to run; they did it because it was entertaining, the same as a pet hamster on a running wheel,” said Foster. “In people, that translates to a daily 30-minute walk or a light 1-mile run.”

The finding complements past research showing the mental benefits of light workout sessions. Scores of studies show that short stints of exercise increase a protein called BDNF, or Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor, which helps nerve cells grow and connect. In rat studies conducted by Fernando Gomez-Pinilla and his colleagues at UCLA, even a few minutes of swimming raised levels of BDNF.

The benefits of BDNF are many. Rats with boosted BDNF in their brains navigate mazes better, heal faster from brain injuries, and are even more likely to avoid a type a behavior that is akin to rodent depression than cage mates with lower levels of the protein.

Workouts don’t just protect brains, it seems, but also improve thinking. In a comparison of 18 studies, inactive older adults who began an exercise routine got significantly better at cognitive tests that measured skills such as planning and paying attention. Again, these subjects’ regimen was quite manageable: Just three days a week, they worked up from a slow 15-minute walk to a 45-minute jaunt. So put down your crossword puzzle and jog around the neighborhood. Don’t be surprised if the answer to that inscrutable clue hits you when you return.

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