INTRODUCTION to Brain Games to Exercise Your Mind Protect Your Brain from Memory Loss and Other Age-Related Disorders by Dr. Small and Gigi Vorgan Most people know that if they engage in regular exercise, their muscles will grow and get stronger. If they commit to an aerobic conditioning routine, their heart health will improve and they will live longer. But many people don''t realize that exercising their minds actually builds brain muscle and helps protect against the decline that often comes with aging. Accumulating scientific evidence supports the idea that brain workouts -- doing puzzles, taking classes, playing games, reading books, or even engaging in stimulating conversations -- can lower a person''s risk for age-related cognitive decline. Initial studies supporting this notion included a large epidemiological sample of people in the community in order to determine if people who attended college experienced lower rates of future cognitive decline and dementia, which is defined as a cognitive impairment severe enough to interfere with a person''s independence. Several years ago, investigators from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, University of Cambridge in the UK, and other European research centers reviewed the educational histories of over 17,000 patients with a diagnosis of Alzheimer''s dementia and compared them to those of 37,000 cognitively healthy control subjects without dementia. The research team concluded that higher educational attainment is associated with a reduced risk of getting Alzheimer''s disease.

The research team estimated that for each year of educational achievement, the risk for developing Alzheimer''s disease was reduced by about 10 percent. Although those are fairly impressive odds, they still don''t definitively prove that the mental stimulation associated with pursuing a college degree actually protects the brain. Another explanation could be that people with increased formal education are more aware that healthy lifestyle habits, like not smoking, getting regular physical exercise, and staying on top of personal medical needs will protect their brain health. Other research findings add support to the idea that the old adage, "use it or lose it," may apply to the brain as well as the body. A study of more than 300 cognitively normal, middle-aged adults enrolled in the Wisconsin Registry for Alzheimer''s Prevention indicated that research volunteers who engaged in more frequent and extensive cognitive activity, including game playing, had larger brain volumes in regions controlling memory and thinking. These volunteers also scored higher on tests of memory, language, and other cognitive skills. In my own research, I hypothesized that it is possible to observe heightened neural activity in the brain when people engage in cognitively stimulating activities. To test this hypothesis, my research team assessed patterns of brain neural activation in cognitively normal middle-aged and older adults while they performed a simulated online search task during functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanning.

We found that volunteers with prior Internet search experience showed a more than two-fold increase in the extent of neural activation compared to those who had never searched online before. We then trained the Internet naïve volunteers on the basics of searching online and instructed them to practice Internet searching for one hour each day for a week. Then we repeated the functional MRI scans while these Internet-trained volunteers performed the simulated search. We found significant increases in neural activity compared with their baseline scans, particularly in the frontal lobe of the brain, the area that controls reasoning and decision-making. Additional research has shown that computer apps and videogames can train our brains and improve our problem-solving skills, help us focus attention and shorten our reaction time. Some studies have even shown that certain videogames can train working memory and boost problem-solving skills. Working memory, a form of short-term memory, is what temporarily holds information in mind long enough to use it, such as hearing a phone number and then dialing it right away. The research indicates that when you train your working memory, it can translate into an improvement in fluid intelligence -- the capacity to think logically and solve problems.

Even though it is difficult to definitively prove that playing games and solving riddles will fortify brain health, brainteasers and puzzles still provide an opportunity for mental fun. The key is to train but not strain the brain, which means it is best to find puzzles that are challenging but not overly difficult. If your brain games are too easy you''ll get bored, but if they are too difficult they may be stressful and cause you to give up on them. We have lots of options for stimulating our minds ranging from game playing and socializing to traveling, taking classes, learning languages, or completing crosswords or Sudoku puzzles. A helpful strategy is to find stimulating activities that you enjoy and try to "cross-train" your brain. That means alternating a visual spatial puzzle like a jigsaw with a language puzzle like a word scramble. Cross-training the brain adds variety, which keeps our minds interested in the mental activity longer. Scientists at the University of California, San Francisco, performed research on a videogame that required players to steer an animated race car along a winding road while informative and distracting street signs pop up.

The researchers found that older adults who played the game for a month, experienced improved multi-tasking skills to the point that they performed at the same level as untrained 20-year-olds. Other studies have shown that surgeons who play video games make fewer errors in the operating room. It is likely that action games that train attention and reaction time also improve surgical skills, so playing certain videogames can be a form of mental exercise that provides practical benefits, whether it''s performing surgery or piloting an airplane. A form of mental exercise that offers additional practical benefits for middle-aged and older adults involves learning and using memory methods that compensate for everyday forgetfulness. Most memory techniques include three important tasks: focusing attention, visualizing the information that you want to remember, and creating mental associations that link those visual images, making them easier to recall. The most frequent reason that people are forgetful is that they are not paying attention in the first place. Doing exercises that help focus attention is a great way to start to strengthen your memory skills. Creating mental images of what you want to remember will leverage your brain''s inborn visual abilities, and creating meaningful associations will make the information more memorable.

These methods can be used to recall names and faces and items on a to-do list faces, as well as help you to find those keys, glasses and other items that most people commonly misplace. Keeping our brains healthy and our minds sharp involves more than just mental exercise. Considerable research points to a formula for successful brain aging that incorporates mental exercise along with physical workouts, healthy nutrition, stress management, and social engagement. Each of these lifestyle habits contributes to brain health in a variety of ways. When it comes to physical exercise, you don''t have to become a triathlete to keep your brain healthy. Prior research suggests that a 20 minute brisk walk each day may lower your risk for dementia. That rapid walk may also lift your mood because it causes your body to produce endorphins, which are natural antidepressants. Workouts also produce brain derived neurotropic factor (BDNF), a protein that gets your brain cells to sprout new branches and communicate more effectively.

Investigators at the University of Illinois have demonstrated that regular aerobic conditioning can increase the size of the brain''s memory-forming region and improve attention and reasoning abilities. After six months of regular cardiovascular conditioning, middle-aged and older volunteers were shown to have larger hippocampal memory centers compared to a control group that only did stretching without walking. Hippocampal size increased even more for volunteers who continued their walking routine for an entire year. Social engagement bolsters brain health in several ways. Dr. Oscar Ybarra and colleagues studied cognitive abilities after a stimulating discussion and found that a 10-minute conversation results in significantly better memory performance and more rapid speed of mental processing compared to watching a sit-com rerun. Conversations are like mental calisthenics that bolster neuronal networks. By engaging in daily discussions on topics of interest, you keep your neural circuits strong.

And conversing with an empathic friend may help lower your stress levels, which can first further bolster your brain health. Learning other ways to effectively manage stress will improve brain health by reducing cortisol levels. This stress hormone has been shown to cause temporary memory impairment after being injected into healthy volunteers. The good news is that such impairment is passing: meditation and other relaxation techniques not only improve mood but also boost cognitive abilities. Healthy nutrition can protect brain health too. Heightened brain inflammation that accumulates with age can accelerate cognitive decline. However, ingesting omega-3 fatty acids, which are found in fish and nuts, help lower this inflammation. Fresh fruits and vegetables contain antioxidants that can protect brain cells from wear and tear due to age-related oxidative stress.

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