Alzheimer’s Study

Understanding Alzheimer’s disease and how to treat it is the goal of many scientists, medical personnel and others who are studying this problem.

Studying The Disease

The National Institute on Aging has funded one notable long-term studies on Alzheimer’s disease that has been in progress since 1986. The School Sisters of Notre Dame in Mankato, MN, are the subjects of the research, giving rise to the project’s nickname of ‘The Nun Study”. This research is a joint effort between the nuns there and the University of Kentucky, under the directorship of Dr. David Snowdon. Also participating are scientists from many other universities.

Figuring out the cause of Alzheimer’s and how to prevent it is the focus of this study. To achieve this, each of the 678 participants agreed to participate in annual assessments of their cognitive and physical function, plus have medical exams and blood drawn for genetic and nutritional studies. When they die, all the participants in the Nun Study have also agreed to donate their brains for neuropathological studies.

Considering the nuns are all non-smokers, drink little if any alcohol, have the same marital status and reproductive history, have lived in similar housing, held similar jobs, and had similar access to preventive and medical care, it makes them easier to study. Contending with subjects from various backgrounds and diverse environments, medical history and lifestyle makes most studies more difficult. It’s easier to figure out the results when all these variable are gone, as they are with the group of nuns.

What They’ve Learned

It’s already been discovered through this research that traits in early, mid, and late life have strong relationships with the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, as well as the mental and cognitive disabilities of old age. So, what does the research indicate YOU can do to prevent getting symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease?

How To Prevent Alzheimer’s Symptoms

From a leading researcher on Alzheimer’s disease, Dr. Yaakov Stern, says, “Individuals who lead mentally stimulating lives, through education, occupation and leisure activities, have reduced risk of developing Alzheimer’s. Studies suggest that they have 35-40% less risk of manifesting the disease. The pathology will still occur, but they are able to cope with it better. Some won’t ever be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s because they don’t present any symptoms.”

You Need To Build Your Cognitive Reserve (CR)

The ability to tolerate progressive brain pathology without demonstrating clinical cognitive symptoms is called Cognitive Reserve. Another way of putting it is to say that Cognitive Reserve is how your brain resists any physical changes caused by Alzheimer’s disease so you don’t have any of the usual symptoms like memory loss.

Building your Cognitive Reserve, your reserve of neurons, synapses and skills, is the best way to prevent Alzheimer’s disease according to researchers. Just how can we do that? What exactly provides good “brain exercise” or constitutes a challenging mental activity?

To be considered effective at building CR, an activity must:

1. Engage your attention.
2. Involve more than one of your senses.
3. Break a routine activity in an unexpected way.

Learning a new language is just one of many examples of a great way to build your CR. Changing your environment by traveling is another. An occupation that engages your mind, taking challenging classes, or even increased physical activity can result in increased neurogenesis (the creation of new neurons), thereby increasing your Cognitive Reserve.

In fact, almost any challenging activity can contribute to building your CR. Some activities may have challenging levels of cognitive complexity (thinking and learning), while others might have interpersonal or physical demands. Reclaim Your Brain:Build Your Cognitive Reserve with Brain Games.

Mental Activity Keeps Brains Healthy.

All the research seems to indicate the more you use your brain, the better it continues to function. Your brain can show full-blown physical symptoms of the disease, but by building up your Cognitive Reserve by learning and other challenging experiences, you increase your chances of never showing the symptoms of Alzheimer’s.

Rise to the challenge and prevent Alzheimer’s disease!