Category Archives: Dementia

Busy Brain Resists Dementia

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Is it true that the busy brain resists dementia? What is a busy brain? How to keep your brain busy? Today’s blog is going to scratch off these topics.

Research suggests that keeping the brain actively engaged and busy with cognitive activities may provide some protection against the development of dementia and age-related cognitive decline. Engaging in mentally stimulating activities regularly can help build cognitive reserve, which can potentially delay the onset of symptoms and slow down the progression of various forms of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease.

Cognitive activities can include learning new skills, engaging in hobbies that require mental effort, solving puzzles and brainteasers, reading, writing, playing musical instruments, learning new languages, and socializing. These activities stimulate multiple areas of the brain, strengthen neural connections, and promote the growth of new neurons and synapses. By keeping the brain active and challenged, cognitive reserve is built, creating a buffer against cognitive decline.

Additionally, maintaining a healthy lifestyle is essential for brain health and reducing the risk of dementia. This includes regular physical exercise, a balanced diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and omega-3 fatty acids, adequate sleep, stress management, and maintaining social connections. All these factors contribute to overall brain health and can work synergistically with mental stimulation to protect against cognitive decline.

While staying mentally busy can be beneficial, it is important to note that it does not completely eliminate the risk of developing dementia. Genetic and environmental factors play a role as well. However, engaging in cognitively stimulating activities is a proactive step individuals can take to promote brain health and potentially delay cognitive decline.

It’s always recommended to consult with healthcare professionals for personalized advice and strategies to maintain cognitive health as they can provide specific guidance based on individual needs and medical history

Busy Brain Resists Dementia_cropped

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Exercise as a therapy for preventing cognitive decline

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Summary: The recent paradigm for the treatment of cognitive impairment has shifted to non pharmacological interventions such as exercise.  Some results published recently have shown a positive role of exercise in preventing cognitive decline. The common message of all these studies involving different population and different cultures is that exercise is beneficial in preventing the cognitive decline. In the future,  evidence based exercise therapy can be introduced  by developing a thorough systematic exercise protocol  and integrating it with molecular profiling of the underlying cellular and molecular changes induced by the exercise protocol.   

Cognitive impairment is one of the major public health problem faced by the modern society affecting primarily the elderly population. It can have many possible causes such as metabolic and endocrine dysfunction, medicinal side effects, depression and Alzheimer’s disease. While there are some medications that are used as cognitive enhancers, no known medication that could prevent or treat the cognitive decline have been developed yet.  Developing a drug that could prevent or treat cognitive decline is a challenging prospect. Therefore, more efforts have been put into conventional or non pharmacological interventions such as diet and exercise. Assessing the current studies, the results are encouraging and in the near future we could be up for some type of exercise therapy for the prevention/treatment of cognitive impairment. Here, I am trying to summarize some of the studies related to exercise and cognition published in 2017. The common message of all these studies involving different population and cultures is that exercise is beneficial in preventing cognitive decline.

A systematic review published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine showed that physical exercise improves cognitive function in the elderly. This meta analyses took into the account 39 different studies till November 2016.  The study looked into several different types  of aerobic exercise, such as resistance training , multicomponent training and tai chi (Chinese martial art),  and found that moderate intensity aerobic exercise decreases the cognitive decline in patients older than 50 years irrespective of their cognitive status.

Similar result was obtained in another study published by Piedra et al. in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. The study investigated the effects of exercise intervention on cognitive function in the elderly latinos/hispanic population (older than 60 years). The participants were examined for their cognitive function(baseline) before initiating the exercise intervention program.  Then, following the exercise intervention program, the cognitive function was again measured after 1 year and 2 year periods.   The results showed that participants involved in the exercise intervention program had higher cognitive function scores after 1 year and 2 year follow ups as compared to their initial baseline scores.

Not only is exercise beneficial to the elderly people. It is also beneficial to the adults of any age suffering from chronic diseases. The study published by Cai et al. in Clinical Interventions in Aging have found that exercise is beneficial in preventing the cognitive decline in the adults (older than 18 years) with chronic disease. This metaanalyses and systematic review took into account 36 different studies till September 2016. The studied participants were diagnosed with chronic diseases such as arthritis, asthma, cancer, COPD, diabetes, heart disease, or AIDS. This study found that exercise is beneficial in improving the cognitive function of patient suffering from chronic disease irrespective of  the type of clinical disease, type of exercise, frequency, and intensity of the exercise intervention.

These are some of the recently published studies related to exercise and cognition in 2017. The results of these studies clearly showed that exercise could potentially act as a non pharmacological therapy in preventing cognitive decline.  However, development of a systematic exercise protocol supported by molecular profiling of underlying exercise induced changes could be of immense help in establishing evidence based exercise therapy. 

Particularly,in regards to exercise, the rule of thumb is any amount of physical activity is beneficial and as the above studies suggest, it is beneficial to prevent/slow the cognitive decline as well.

References:

Northey JM, Cherbuin N, Pumpa KL, Smee DJ, Rattray B. Exercise interventions for cognitive function in adults older than 50: a systematic review with meta-analysis. Br J Sports Med. 2017 Apr 24. pii: bjsports-2016-096587. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2016-096587. [Epub ahead of print] Review.

Piedra LM, Andrade FC, Hernandez R, Boughton SW, Trejo L, Sarkisian CA. The Influence of Exercise on Cognitive Function in Older Hispanic/Latino Adults: Results From the “¡Caminemos!” Study. Gerontologist. 2017 Mar 15. doi: 10.1093/geront/gnw256. [Epub ahead of print] 

Cai H, Li G, Hua S, Liu Y, Chen L. Effect of exercise on cognitive function in chronic disease patients: a meta-analysis and systematic review of randomized controlled trials.Clin Interv Aging. 2017 May 11;12:773-783. doi: 10.2147/CIA.S135700. eCollection 2017. Review.

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Nutrition and Neurodegenerative diseases

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“You are what you eat”. The importance of nutrition for the human health has been known since the ancient times. There is no doubt that nutrition is one of the prime factors that affect the health of any living being, plants or animals alike.

Recently, a lot of research has been focused in the role of nutrition in human health. Epidemiological studies in human and experimental animal studies have been conducted to see if there is any particular association between human diet and diseases.

One of the areas that scientists are prioritizing is Neurodegenerative diseases which include dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. It has been estimated that 30% of the total population will be over 65 years of age by 2050. With the increasing population, there will also be an increase in the economic burden to take care and to treat the age related disorders which might call for the measures for preventing or even reversing the age related health disorders. Among the potential option for achieving this is the use of nutritional substances for the prevention of the age related diseases.

The relationship between nutrition and cognitive decline is complex and it might be multifactorial involving several environemental factors such as nutrients, pollutants, chemicals, physical activity, lifestyle, physical and mental stress.

Epidemiological studies have shown that micronutrients such as Vitamin B, C D and E, flavonoids, polyunsaturated omega-3-fatty acids to have protective role in the prevention of cognitive decline, dementia and AD. So, consumption of these foods containing these micronutrients might help in preventing the neurodegeneration and other health related disorders associated with aging.

One of the mechanisms behind the age related disorders is oxidative stress. It is involved in almost all of the diseases associated with old age such as neurodegenerative diseases, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. To decrease the oxidative stress in our cells, we have to have proper nutrition containing antioxidants. In addition meditation, exercise might also help in reducing the stress which might be involved in oxidative stress.

Brain is a plastic organ that can be molded into different ways and nutrition definitely plays a big role in molding the brain by facilitating in creating the good brain environment. However, we should not forget a big picture that a proper nutrition is beneficial not only to our brain, but also to all the organs of our body.

 

Active Brain and Brain Exercise

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A brain is called an active brain when it is involved in the activities that fire or stimulates the neurons. Active brain, also called busy brain is a state of brain in which the neurons are firing continuously or are involved in the activities that fire or stimulate neurons. The main key to active brain is that neurons should be stimulated continuously so that they become habituated to stimulation once the necessity arises. It can be achieved through physical exercise or mental exercise. Mental exercise can also be called brain exercise. Based on the mechanism, brain exercise can be classified into two types:

  • Direct: Brain exercise that directly engages the neurons. For example: mental stimulating games, chess, Sudoku.
  • Indirect: Indirect brain exercise involves physical activity that does not directly engage the neurons. For example jogging, running.

Chess_-_strategic_board_game_for_two_players1(Source:http://blog.pdus2go.com/special-edition/when-business-feels-like-a-game-of-chess/)

Chess, a good mental exercise

Some games like football, basketball or cricket which requires strategic thinking and planning have direct as well as indirect effects in making the brain active.

Advantages of active brain and brain exercise:

Like we need to do weightlifting regularly if we want to build our triceps and biceps and run regularly to be a sprinter or marathon runner, to be a mental athlete, we need to exercise the brain regularly. Brain exercise has similar effect to our brain as the weightlifting have to our muscles.

Dementia is a collective symptom for the decrease in cognitive capacity. It involves memory loss, poor judgement, challenges in planning or solving problems. Exercising the brain regularly can halt or slow the progress of dementia. It increases the cognitive reserve in the elderly population.

Aging is a physiological process that affects each cell and organ of our body. Every organ tend to slow down with aging and so as our brain and the neurons. The normal brain aging can be further worsened by deposition of deposition of harmful substances leading to brain disease. Memory loss is the most common problem encountered during aging. The problem is neurons are less active or the brain is less active during old age. In a sense, then tend to become lazy and do not fire when needed. These lazy neurons must be activated or we should try to maintain the active neurons. This is possible only through active brain and brain exercise is the key to active brain. If you experience the memory loss, then you need to counteract the memory loss by activating your neurons through memorization of your day-to-day activities at the end of the day. If you make the habit of memorizing, then that will provide your neurons the necessary stimulus to become activated and helps you in halting or stopping memory loss.

Here are some simple tips for making your brain active:

  • Memorizing daily activities at the end of day before sleep.
  • Playing board games like chess, tiger moving.
  • Solving puzzles, crosswords and playing Sudoku.
  • Involving oneself in intellectual activities in society like debate and quiz.
  • Learning new language.
  • Make the habit of reading books.
  • Try to make the habit of critical thinking, multidimensional way of observing things.

There are a lot of ways of making the active brain. The key to the active brain is engaging yourself in the activities that are brain storming. Besides, don’t forget about the diet and exercise. These are equally important for active brain and healthier brain. To sum up, brain exercise is a simple and cost-effective way of achieving brain health. The key to brain exercise is active brain and active body.

Dementia Prevention and Awareness

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Dementia is a common problem of the elderly population. There are about 40 million cases of dementia today. Alzheimer’s disease comprises more than half of the cases of dementia.This trend just seems to be unstoppable. According to the Alzheimer’s Disease International, it is set to treble worldwide by 2050 causing a global epidemic. Given that there will be a lot of people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, the health care budget will significantly rise. So, effort must be made to reduce the cost of dementia care by raising the dementia awareness and prevention strategies.

There is no established method for the prevention of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. But a small change in your diet or lifestyle can mean a lot for preventing dementia. New prevention strategies that are being studied are focused on lifestyle and dietary factors. Micronutrients like folic acid, vitamin B12, vitamin D and magnesium are thought  to maintain and improve brain health.The results with turmeric and vitamin B are promising. Fish oil, which contains omega-3 fatty acid is also beneficial for the neurons. Similarly exercise has been shown to be effective in preventing amnesia associated with aging. Playing board games like chess, solving puzzles and cross words provides mental stretching to the brain. Experiments have shown these games to be helpful for the prevention of dementia.

Regular exercise, healthy diet and mental stimulation can also be called the three pillars of brain healthy lifestyle. Exercise increases blood circulation and reduces the cholesterol level. Healthy diet provides energy and prevents the formation of harmful chemicals in the brain. Games like Chess and Sudoku gives you the mental stimulation needed for keeping the brain active. And active brain helps in resisting degeneration of brain cells which is responsible for dementia.

For those wanting to know further details about dementia, find it on What is dementia? The signs, symptoms and causes of dementia – Medical News Today.

If you are worried about the recent cognitive decline or fearing that you might have dementia or Alzheimer’s Know the 10 signs of Alzheimer’s disease from Alzheimer’s association.

Related articles:

Playing chess, a way of achieving healthier brain

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Chess is widely considered as an intellectual game. It requires a lot of visuospatial capability and calculation. Some researchers have even found chess players to be more intelligent than the other, while other have rejected this hypothesis. The purpose of writing this blog is not to argue about this point. What i am trying to tell is chess definitely helps in making your brain healthy. Playing this game during old age prevents the age related cognitive decline and dementia.

File:Chess board opening staunton.jpg

What the research tells?

Researchers at Universidad de Laguna, Spain compared the students playing chess and those playing soccer or basketball. Their results showed that students playing chess have improved cognitive and problem solving capacity than the counterparts playing soccer or basketball. The findings of this research correlates well with the results of  functional magnetic resonance imaging(fMRI). Researchers at University of Minnesota, USA reported  bilateral activation of frontal, parietal and occipital areas in fMRI  while playing chess. Its the frontal area of our brain that is involved in problem solving and intelligence.

While there are research favoring the importance of chess in brain development, there are some which denies this idea. By using Tower of London test( A psychological test for executive functioning), German researchers dismissed the idea that chess player has superior planning performance as compared to non chess players. Though they thefind planning performance to be superior in the chess players, there was no difference in the intelligence between the chess players and the non chess players.
So the research divides the opinion regarding the superior planning performance and intelligence in chess player. Further research need to be done before we become sure about the effect of playing chess in brain. But what we should not forget is chess is a brain stimulating game and it has been proved by the brain imaging that it helps in the activation of the brain areas.

What are the benefits of playing chess? 

 Psychological and intelligence test conducted on chess  players dismiss the idea of chess players being intelligent or being more efficient planner or thinker than those who don’t play chess. But there are other studies which tend to differ. Here are some benefits of playing chess as mentioned in the website  http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/10-big-brain-benefits-of-playing-chess: 

  • Increases the IQ
  • Prevents Alzheimer’s disease
  • Increases creativity and problem solving skills
  • Improves memory,reading skills and concentration
  • Promotes the growth of dendrites in the brain

For more information about the benefits, visit the webpage by clicking the above link.

How often do you need to play chess?

There are no clear studies indicating the frequency and time one need to spend . Playing chess is just like doing meditation or your daily routine training like jogging,swimming or cycling. The more you play, the more your chance of reaping the benefits. Like the exercise training or meditation, its never late to start learning chess

Reference and related articles:

  1. Atherton M, Zhuang J, Bart WM, Hu X, He S, A functional MRI study of high-level cognition. I. The game of chess. Brain Res Cogn Brain Res. 2003 Mar;16(1):26-31

  2. Aciego R, García L, Betancort M, The benefits of chess for the intellectual and social-emotional enrichment in schoolchildren. Span J Psychol. 2012 Jul;15(2):551-9
  3. Unterrainer JM, Kaller CP, Leonhart R, Rahm B., Planning abilities and chess: a comparison of chess and non-chess players on the Tower of London task. Br J Psychol. 2006 Aug;97(Pt 3):299-311
  4. Unterrainer JM, Kaller CP, Leonhart R, Rahm B.Revising superior planning performance in chess players: the impact of time restriction and motivation aspects. Am J Psychol. 2011 Summer;124(2):213-25
  5. Frontal Lobe Function in Chess Players.  http://acta.tums.ac.ir/files/journals/1/articles/4501/public/4501-4858-1-PB.p
  6. Ten big brain benefits of playing chess.                http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/10-big-brain-benefits-of-playing-chess

Fearing dementia during old age??Vitamin B might be the solution!!!!

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Vitamin B12

Sources of Vitamin B12

Vitamin B12 is a water soluble vitamin which has a wide range of function including DNA synthesis and myelination of neurons. A new research study published by University of Oslo has shown yet another vital role of Vitamin B12 in neurological diseases. People suffering from early stage cognitive impairment called Mild Cognitive impairment(MCI) and impending dementia will benefit from the new discovery.The findings of the research have shown Vitamin B12 to be effective in preventing Alzheimer’s disease, especially in those who have high level of homocysteine in their body. Homocysteine is an amino acid, which is thought to be involved in the formation of neurofibrillary tangles in the neurons, thus disrupting the communication between neurons and giving rise to AD. There is a direct proportional relation between increased blood homocysteine level and the rise in mild cognitive impairment.

An elevated level of homocysteine can be reduced by administering Vitamin B12. It can be administered orally, or via injection. But the dose of Vitamin B12 in these persons must be higher than the normal dietary requirement.

What are the sources of Vitamin B12?

Sources of Vitamin B12: Sea foods like salmon, shrimps, sardines; milk and milk products; eggs,red meat and liver and legumes. Vegetarians must be careful to avoid dietary deficiency of Vitamin B12. It’s advisable for the vegetarians to take Vitamin B12 capsules. Similarly, elderly people and those who consume excessive alcohol might have poor absorption of this vitamin. In these cases, it’s better to check your Vitamin B12 level regularly and take the parenteral (injection) form of Vitamin B12.

Reference:

http://www.med.uio.no/imb/english/research/news-and-events/news/2013/vitamin-b-impedes-development-of-alzheimer%E2%80%99s-.html

Withania Somnifera (Ashwagandha) and its neuroprotective effects

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What is Ashwagandha or Withania Somnifera?

Withania Somnifera(WS), also called Ashwagandha in Sanskrit is a herbal plant widely mentioned and used in ayurvedic medicine. In Ayurveda, Ashwagandha is used to enhance mental health and memory and research have proved that it, in fact, enhances memory. Recent studies have also shown that the ashwagandha root have other wide range of therapeutic properties like antistress, immunomodulatory and antioxidant.

Berry of the Withania somnifera plant

Berry of the Withania somnifera plant

Ashwagandha its use in neurodegenerative diseases:

The roots of Ashwagandha extracts have shown to reduce the number of hippocampal degenerating cells significantly in the brains of stressed rodents and were neuroprotective in animal models of Parkinson’s disease.

Studies done in rats at Defense Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences, India have shown that withania somnifera roots can improve the hypobaric hypoxic induced memory impairment and neuronal degeneration. Likewise, study done in Human neuronal cells at Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, USA showed that Ashwagandha(Withania Somnifera) benefits in Alzheimer’s disease(AD). It shows neuroprotective effects in AD.

Animal studies have shown that withania somnifera reverses the behavioral deficits, plaque pathology and accumulation of β-amyloid peptides (Aβ) in the brain. The roots of WS reverse the effect of beta amyloid induced toxicity in AD. Accumulation of β-amyloid is known to be one of the major pathogenesis associated with AD. Thus withania somnifera (WS) extracts can be used as an agent for the prevention of AD. β-amyloid and ashwagandha treated cells  showed no reduction in spine density, spine area, spine length and number of spines as compared to untreated control thus showing the protective effect of ashwagandha on spine density. It is the reduction of spine area, spine length and number of spines which are related to neurodegenerative diseases causing decrease in synaptic plasticity and thus compromising learning and memory. Study done at Chonbuk National University, South Korea has shown that WS stimulates the NMDA receptor in hippocampal cells which is the brain area important for learning and memory.

So, Ashwagandha is an important herb and recent studies have shown promising results regarding its medical benefits, nevertheless in neurodegenerative diseases.

References:

Janardhan Prasad Bhattarai, Soo Joung Park, and Seong Kyu Han, Potentiation of NMDA receptors by Withania somnifera on hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons

Am. J. Chin. Med. 41, 503 (2013). DOI: 10.1142/S0192415X13500365

Baitharu I, Jain V, Deep SN, Hota KB, Hota SK, Prasad D, IIavazhagan G, Withania somnifera root extract ameliorates hypobaric hypoxia induced memory impairment in rats.

J Ethnopharmacol. 2013 Jan 30;145(2):431-41. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2012.10.063. Epub 2012 Dec 2

Kurapati KR, Atluri VS, Samikkannu T, Nair MP, Ashwangha (Withania somnifera) Reverses β-amyloid 1-42 Induced Toxicity in Human Neuronal Cells: Implications in HIV-Associated Neurocognitive Disorders (HAND) PLoS One. 2013 Oct 16;8(10):e77624. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0077624