Brain Food by Lisa Mosconi

Author:Lisa Mosconi
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780241976326
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2017-12-26T05:00:00+00:00

YOUR BRAIN IS A BUSY BEE

On top of eating healthily and keeping physically active, there is general consensus among scientists that exercising one’s brain intellectually slows down aging and reduces the risk of cognitive impairment later in life.

New research boosts the “use it or lose it” theory about brainpower and staying mentally sharp by showing that people who retire at an early age have an increased risk of developing dementia. Of course there are retirement stories both ways. Some people have a great time after retiring. Others seem to go downhill physically or mentally shortly after their last day at work. Research shows that, on average, work seems to keep people active, socially connected, and mentally challenged, so much so that among nearly half a million people, those who delayed retirement by just a few years showed less risk of developing dementia in the years to come. For each additional year of work, risk of dementia went down by 3 percent.

This is not to say that you should work forever. Rather, the key is to keep yourself intellectually engaged throughout the course of your entire life. For example, a study of over four hundred community-residing seniors, most of whom were retirees, showed that those who regularly engaged in intellectual activity had a 54 percent reduced risk of cognitive decline as compared to those who did not.

So what qualifies as an “intellectual activity”? These activities can be anything from doing crossword puzzles and brainteasers to reading books and newspapers. Other options might be writing, playing music, joining a book club, or going to a show you enjoy. In fact, brain imaging studies show that lifelong participation in such activities slows down, and perhaps even prevents, any accumulation of Alzheimer’s plaques, therefore protecting the brain against aging and dementia.

This brings us to a hot topic in the anti-aging field. In recent years, there has been an explosion of computer-based cognitive-training software, popularly known as “brain games.” This online programming claims to make you smarter and improve your memory, while bumping up your IQ a few points at the same time. Claims like these can actually enrage quite a few scientists.

In 2014, the Stanford Center on Longevity and Berlin’s Max Planck Institute for Human Development published a call to arms against the brain-training industry, signed by seventy-five of the best-known scientists in the field. In this consensus statement, the authors criticize companies for exaggerating claims and preying on the anxieties of elderly customers trying to stave off memory decline. Perhaps in response to increasing concerns such as these, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) started paying more attention to online brain games companies. Just a few years later in 2016, the FTC took exemplary action against the company behind Lumosity, a well-known brain-training program. The company ended up paying a $2 million fine for engaging in “deceptive conduct,” ergo false advertising, for claiming that their online games could delay cognitive impairment, memory loss, and Alzheimer’s.

I’m often asked what I think about these brain-fitness products. To be honest, I have mixed feelings about them.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.