Brain fitness

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Brain fitness grew out of the study of neuropsychology and is the science of maintaining and training cognitive abilities through neuroplasticity and stimulating neurogenesis, the creation of new neurons. Cognitive abilities like attention, stress and emotional management, memory, visual/spatial processing, auditory processes and language, motor coordination, and executive functions like planning and problem solving diminish over time unless they are used regularly. A mentally fit person shows improved attention, memory, thinking, and stress management.

Contents

[edit] Overview

Brain fitness is the capacity of a person to meet the various cognitive demands of life. It is evident in an ability to assimilate information, comprehend relationships, and develop reasonable conclusions and plans. Brain fitness can be developed by formal education, being actively mentally engaged in life, continuing to learn, and exercises designed to challenge cognitive skills.[1][2] Healthy lifestyle habits including mental stimulation, physical exercise, good nutrition, stress management, and sleep can improve brain fitness.[3][4][5][6][7] On the other hand, chronic stress, anxiety, depression, aging, decreasing estrogen, excess oxytocin, and prolonged cortisol can decrease brain fitness as well as general health.[8][9][10][11][12][13]

Brain fitness can be measured physically at the cellular level by neurogenesis, the creation of new neurons, and increased functional connections of synapses and dendrites between neurons. It can also be evaluated by behavioral performance as seen in cognitive reserve, improved memory, attention, concentration, executive functions, decision-making, mental flexibility, and other core capabilities.

Like physical fitness, brain fitness can be improved by disciplined exercise that presents a variety of challenges in a constructive environment. Recent research shows that regular brain “workouts” not only help prevent age-related cognitive decline, dementia, Alzheimer’s, and other cognitively degenerative diseases, but can also improve normally functioning minds.[14][15][16] Although puzzles and games like chess provide mental stimulation, the most neuroprotective exercises are scientifically based to utilize multiple cognitive processes and are able to generalize to overall mental faculties and performance.

[edit] Neurogenesis

Main article: neurogenesis

Neurogenesis is the creation of new neurons. The more active a particular brain cell is, the more connections it develops with its neighboring neurons through a process called dendritic sprouting. A single neuron can have up to thirty thousand such connections, creating a dense web of interconnected activity throughout the brain. Each neuron can then be stimulated directly through experience (real or imagined) or indirectly through these connections from its neighbors, which saves the cell from cell death.

Physical exercise boosts the brain’s rate of neurogenesis throughout life, while mental exercise increases the rate at which those new brain cells survive and make functional connections into existing neural networks.[17][18] Both physical exercise and the challenge from mental exercise increase the secretion of nerve growth factor, which helps neurons grow and stay healthy.[19]

[edit] Mental Stimulation

Consistent mental challenge by novel stimuli increases production and interconnectivity of neurons and nerve growth factor, as well as prevents loss of connections and cell death. The Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly (ACTIVE) nationwide clinical trial is so far the nation's largest study of cognitive training. Researchers found that improvements in cognitive ability roughly counteract the degree of long-term cognitive decline typical among older people without dementia. The results, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2002, showed significant percentages of the 2,802 participants age 65 and older who trained for five weeks for about 2 1/2 hours per week improved their memory, reasoning and information-processing speed.[20]

Joe Verghese, M.D. found that people could reduce their risk of Alzheimer’s by 64% simply by raising their activity score by 1 point, and a 1-point increase corresponded to a reduction of dementia risk by 7%.[21] That means that people could lower their dementia risk by 7% simply by adding one activity per week (such as doing a crossword puzzle or playing a board game) to their schedule. According to the findings of that same study, subjects who did crossword puzzles four days a week had a 47% lower risk of dementia than subjects who did a crossword puzzle just once a week.

Effective mental stimulation should provide:

  • Novelty
  • Variety
  • Challenge
  • Practice

[edit] Influential Scientists

Richard Davidson
Marian Diamond
Fred Gage
Elkhonon Goldberg
Daniel Gopher
Jon Kabat-Zinn
Torkel Klingberg
Michael Merzenich
Mark Rosenzweig
Robert Sapolsky
Paula Tallal

[edit] See also

Cognitive neuroscience
Neuropsychology
Cognitive psychology
Neuroplasticity
Neuroscience
Cognitive neuropsychology
Neurocognitive
Psychology
Learning
Serious game

[edit] Important Research Papers

  • Ambrogini P, et al. Learning may induce neurogenesis in adult rat dentate gyrus. Neuroscience Letters. 2004;359:13-16.
  • Ando J, Ono Y, Wright MJ. Genetic structure of spatial and verbal working memory. Behavioral Genetics. 2001;31(6):615-24.
  • Bennett, DA, et al. Education modifies the relation of AD pathology to level of cognitive function in older persons. Neurology. 2003;60/12:1909-15.
  • Bigio EH, Hynan LS, Sontag E, Satumtira S, White CL. Synapse loss is greater in presenile than senile onset Alzheimer disease: implications for the cognitive reserve hypothesis. Neuropathology and Applied Neurobiology. 2002;28(3):218-27.
  • Bruel-Jungerman ES, Laroche, Rampon C. New neurons in the dentate gyrus are involved in the expression of enhanced long-term memory following environmental enrichment. European Journal of Neuroscience. 2005;21/2:513-21.
  • Döbrössy MDE, et al. Differential effects of learning on neurogenesis: learning increases or decreases the number of newly born cells depending on their birth date. Molecular Psychiatry. 2003;8:974-82.
  • Gopher D, Weil M, Baraket T. Transfer of skill from a computer game trainer to flight. Human Factors. 1994;36,1-19.
  • Gould E, et al. Learning enhances adult neurogenesis in the hippocampal formation. Nature Neuroscience. 1999;2/3:260-5.
  • Katzman R. Education and the prevalence of dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Neurology. 1993;43(1):13-20.
  • Kempermann G, Gast D, Gage FH. Neuroplasticity in old age: sustained fivefold induction of hippocampal neurogenesis by long-term environmental enrichment. Annals of Neurology. 2002;52:135-43.
  • Kempermann G, Kuhn HG, Gage FH. More hippocampal neurons in adult mice living in an enriched environment. Nature. 1997;386(6624):493-5.
  • Klingberg T, Fernell E, Olesen PJ, Johnson M, Gustafsson P, Dahlstrom K, Gillberg CG, Forssberg H, Westerberg H. Computerized training of working memory in children with ADHD--a randomized, controlled trial. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2005;44(2):177-86.
  • Leuner B, et al. Learning enhances the survival of new neurons beyond the time when the hippocampus is required for memory. Journal of Neuroscience. 2004;4:7477-81.
  • Maguire EA, Gadian DG, Johnsrude IS, Good CD, Ashburner J, Frackowiak RS, Frith CD. Navigation-related structural change in the hippocampi of taxi drivers. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA. 2000;97(8):4398-403.
  • Scarmeas N, Stern Y. Cognitive reserve and lifestyle. J Clin Exp Neuropsychol. 2003;25(5):625-33.
  • Stern Y, Gurland B, Tatemichi TK, Tang MX, Wilder D, Mayeux R. Influence of education and occupation on the incidence of Alzheimer's disease. JAMA. 1994;271(13):1004-10.
  • Verghese J, et al. Leisure activities and the risk of dementia in the elderly. The New England Journal of Medicine. 2003;348/25:2508-16.
  • Willis SL, Tennstedt SL, Marsiske M, et al. Long-term effects of cognitive training on everyday functional outcomes in older adults. JAMA. 2006;296:2805-14.
  • Wilson RS, et al. Participation in cognitively stimulating activities and risk of incident Alzheimer disease. JAMA. 2002;287/6:742-8.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Gopher, D; Weil M, Baraket T (1994). "Transfer of skill from a computer game trainer to flight". Human Factors 36: 1-19. 
  2. ^ Scarmeas, N; Y Stern (2003). "Cognitive reserve and lifestyle". J Clin Exp Neuropsychol 25: 625-33. 
  3. ^ Kramer, AF; Erickson KI, Colcombe SJ (2006). "Exercise, cognition, and the aging brain". J Appl Physiol 101 (4): 1237-42. 
  4. ^ Stern, Y; B Gurland, TK Tatemichi, et al. (1994). "Influence of education and occupation on the incidence of Alzheimer's disease". JAMA 271 (13): 1004-10. 
  5. ^ Verghese, J; et al. (2003). "Leisure activities and the risk of dementia in the elderly". The New England Journal of Medicine 348 (25): 2508-16. 
  6. ^ Willis, SL; SL Tennstedt, M Marsiske, et al. (2006). "Long-term effects of cognitive training on everyday functional outcomes in older adults". JAMA 296: 2805-14. 
  7. ^ Wilson, RS; et al. (2002). "Participation in cognitively stimulating activities and risk of incident Alzheimer disease". JAMA 287 (6): 742-8. 
  8. ^ Hairston, IS; Little MT, Scanlon MD, Barakat MT, Palmer TD, Sapolsky RM, Heller HC (2005). "Sleep restriction suppresses neurogenesis induced by hippocampus-dependent learning". J Neurophysiol 94 (6): 4224-33. 
  9. ^ Mirescu, Christian; Jennifer D. Peters, Liron Noiman, and Elizabeth Gould (2006). "Sleep deprivation inhibits adult neurogenesis in the hippocampus by elevating glucocorticoids". PNAS 103 (50): 19170-19175. 
  10. ^ MacLennan, AH; Henderson VW, Paine BJ, et al. (2006). "Hormone therapy, timing of initiation, and cognition in women aged older than 60 years: the REMEMBER pilot study". Menopause 13 (1): 28-36. 
  11. ^ de Oliveira, LF; Camboim C, Diehl F, Consiglio AR, Quillfeldt JA. (2007). "Glucocorticoid-mediated effects of systemic oxytocin upon memory retrieval". Neurobiol Learn Mem 87 (1): 67-71. 
  12. ^ Oei, NY; Everaerd WT, Elzinga BM, van Well S, Bermond B (2006). "Psychosocial stress impairs working memory at high loads: an association with cortisol levels and memory retrieval". Stress 9 (3): 133-41. 
  13. ^ Elder, GA; De Gasperi R, Gama Sosa MA (2006). "Research update: neurogenesis in adult brain and neuropsychiatric disorders". Mt Sinai J Med 73 (7): 931-40. 
  14. ^ de la Fuente-Fernandez, Raúl (2006). "Impact of neuroprotection on incidence of Alzheimer's disease". PLoS ONE 20 (1): e52. 
  15. ^ Spector, A; Thorgrimsen L, Woods B, Royan L, Davies S, Butterworth M, Orrell M (2003). "Efficacy of an evidence-based cognitive stimulation therapy programme for people with dementia: randomised controlled trial". Br J Psychiatry 183: 248-54. 
  16. ^ Belleville, S; Gilbert B, Fontaine F, Gagnon L, Menard E, Gauthier S (2006). "Improvement of episodic memory in persons with mild cognitive impairment and healthy older adults: evidence from a cognitive intervention program". Dement Geriatr Cogn Disord 22: 486-99. 
  17. ^ Ernst, C; Olson AK, Pinel JP, Lam RW, Christie BR (2006). "Antidepressant effects of exercise: evidence for an adult-neurogenesis hypothesis?". J Psychiatry Neurosci 31 (2): 84-92. 
  18. ^ Wolf, SA; Kronenberg G, Lehmann K, Blankenship A, Overall R, Staufenbiel M, Kempermann G (2006). "Cognitive and physical activity differently modulate disease progression in the amyloid precursor protein (APP)-23 model of Alzheimer's disease". Biol Psychiatry 60 (12): 1314-23. 
  19. ^ Chaturvedi, RK; Shukla S, Seth K, Agrawal AK (2006). "Nerve growth factor increases survival of dopaminergic graft, rescue nigral dopaminergic neurons and restores functional deficits in rat model of Parkinson's disease". Neurosci Lett 398: 44-9. 
  20. ^ Ball, K; Berch DB, Helmers KF, et al (2002). "Effects of cognitive training interventions with older adults: a randomized controlled trial". JAMA 288 (18): 2271-81. 
  21. ^ Verghese, J; et al. (2003). "Leisure activities and the risk of dementia in the elderly". The New England Journal of Medicine 348 (25): 2508-16. 

[edit] External Resources

Blog on Brain Fitness


[edit] Sample Brain Exercises

Exercising inhibition skills: Stroop Test
Exercising planning skills: The Tower of Hanoi

The Neuroscience Project

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