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While no one can promise a sure-fire treatment for memory care, there are strategies that can significantly improve your chances of keeping Alzheimer's at bay...Introducing: “How to Protect Your Memory and Brain Health”.

8 Key Strategies Focused on Saving Your Memory With Evidence-Based Research to Support Each Step

Dr. Peter V. Rabins is an acclaimed author and geriatric psychiatrist at Johns Hopkins - and one of the nation's leading experts on the care and management of patients with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia.

If someone told you there were eight straightforward steps you could take to dramatically enhance your quality of life and reduce or delay your chances for memory deterioration, what would you do?

Many experts believe that once you understand your various risk factors for cognitive decline, take control of them, and follow through with the evidence-based strategies detailed in How To Protect Your Memory and Brain Health, you'll be in a better position to keep your memory strong well into later life.

For example, do you know?

What's the best way to guard your memory and prevent dementia?

If you answered, stay heart healthy, you'd be right. And Dr. Rabins explains why with evidence from recent studies in the Archives of Internal Medicine. Controlling high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease are absolutely critical to cognitive function. Dr. Rabins explains how to take charge.

What are the effects of too little sleep on keeping your memory sharp?

Many of us have trouble sleeping at night. No big deal -- right? Now new studies show that getting adequate sleep plays an essential role in learning new information, relating to names, dates, faces, facts, specific events - in short forming memory.

What's so special about the Mediterranean diet?

For years the marketing and promotion of dietary supplements that claim to enhance memory have left many people confused and wary. Now recent evidence-based research reported in the Annals of Neurology suggests that people who closely follow the Mediterranean diet have a 40 percent lower risk of Alzheimer's disease. The take-away: The food you eat, not the pills, can prevent or slow the rate of cognitive decline.

How does regular physical activity protect memory and reduce the risk of Alzheimer's?

Studies investigating the exercise/memory/dementia link have shown positive outcomes in recent years. Dr. Rabins provides an in-depth look at a number of key studies to show you the benefits of regular exercise... and how to incorporate exercise into your schedule.

How does stress affect memory?

We all know that living a stress-filled life is unhealthy. Turns out stress is worse for us than we thought. Johns Hopkins researchers have linked high levels of the stress hormone cortisol with poor cognitive performance in older adults. And another study, reported in the journal Neurology, found that depressed and anxious people are 40 percent more likely to develop mild cognitive impairment. In this fascinating section, Dr. Rabins provides key "stress erasers" - proactive steps you can take to reduce the stress in your life.

Every day, scientists are proving that diminished memory and mental capacity are NOT inevitable - and can be slowed, halted or even reversed through good nutrition, lifestyle habits and more. Even Alzheimer's disease is not something that suddenly occurs in old age. Rather, it's a continuum of illnesses that gets its start decades earlier without any symptoms.

So it makes sense that if we could find a way to keep our brains healthier and better able to counter the damage that occurs with age, we could better the odds of preserving memory and preventing or forestalling Alzheimer's and other dementias.

A recent report from the National Institutes of Health supports this view. It provides evidence that vascular disease risk factors - including mid-life hypertension, high cholesterol and diabetes - can all predispose someone to developing memory problems-even Alzheimer's.

While this may not sound like good news - it is.

Because it points the way to the importance of effective prevention strategies - strategies you can begin today to keep your brain healthier, longer.

Johns Hopkins Health Alerts

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While no one can promise a sure-fire treatment to prevent memory loss, there are strategies that can significantly improve your chances of keeping Alzheimer's at bay.

How to Protect Your Memory and Brain Health

8 Key Strategies Focused on Saving Your Memory

Dr. Peter V. Rabins, acclaimed author and geriatric psychiatrist at Johns Hopkins - and one of the nation's leading experts on the care and management of patients with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia and memory care.

If someone told you there were eight straightforward steps you could take to dramatically enhance your quality of life and reduce or delay your chances for memory deterioration, what would you do?

Many experts believe that once you understand your various risk factors for cognitive decline, take control of them, and follow through with the evidence-based strategies detailed in How To Protect Your Memory and Brain Health, you'll be in a better position to keep your memory strong well into later life.

For example, do you know:

What's the best way to guard your memory and prevent dementia?

If you answered, stay heart healthy, you'd be right. And Dr. Rabins explains why with evidence from recent studies in the Archives of Internal Medicine. Controlling high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease are absolutely critical to cognitive function. Dr. Rabins explains how to take charge.

What are the effects of too little sleep on keeping your memory sharp?

Many of us have trouble sleeping at night. No big deal -- right? Now new studies show that getting adequate sleep plays an essential role in learning new information, relating to names, dates, faces, facts, specific events - in short forming memory.

What's so special about the Mediterranean diet?

For years the marketing and promotion of dietary supplements that claim to enhance memory have left many people confused and wary. Now recent evidence-based research reported in the Annals of Neurology suggests that people who closely follow the Mediterranean diet have a 40 percent lower risk of Alzheimer's disease. The take-away: The food you eat, not the pills, can prevent or slow the rate of cognitive decline.

How does regular physical activity protect memory and reduce the risk of Alzheimer's?

Studies investigating the exercise/memory/dementia link have shown positive outcomes in recent years. Dr. Rabins provides an in-depth look at a number of key studies to show you the benefits of regular exercise... and how to incorporate exercise into your schedule.

How does stress affect memory?

We all know that living a stress-filled life is unhealthy. It turns out that stress is worse for us than we thought. Johns Hopkins researchers have linked high levels of the stress hormone cortisol with poor cognitive performance in older adults. And another study, reported in the journal Neurology, found that depressed and anxious people are 40% more likely to develop mild cognitive impairment. In this fascinating section, Dr. Rabins provides key "stress erasers" - proactive steps you can take to reduce the stress in your life.

Every day, scientists are proving that diminished memory and mental capacity are NOT inevitable - and can be slowed, halted or even reversed through good nutrition, lifestyle habits and more. Even Alzheimer's disease is not something that suddenly occurs in old age. Rather, it's a continuum of illnesses that gets its start decades earlier without any symptoms.

So it makes sense that if we could find a way to keep our brains healthier and better able to counter the damage that occurs with age, we could better the odds of preserving memory and preventing or forestalling Alzheimer's and other dementias.

A recent report from the National Institutes of Health supports this view. It provides evidence that vascular disease risk factors - including mid-life hypertension, high cholesterol and diabetes - can all predispose someone to developing memory problems-even Alzheimer's.

While this may not sound like good news - it is.

Because it points the way to the importance of effective prevention strategies - strategies you can begin TODAY to keep your brain healthier, longer.

Original article – Johns Hopkins Health Alerts

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Alzheimer's Disease isn't inevitable. Many experts now believe you can prevent or delay dementia — even if you have a genetic predisposition. Reducing Alzheimer's risk factors like obesity, diabetes, smoking and low physical activity by just 25% percent could prevent up to half a million cases of the disease in the United States.

Regular exercise can keep your brain young, reducing your need for memory care.

Here are 10 new ways you can boost your brain health now.

1) Get moving
"If you do only one thing to keep your brain young, exercise," says Art Kramer, professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Illinois. Higher exercise levels can reduce dementia risk by 30 to 40% compared with low activity levels, and physically active people tend to maintain better cognition and memory than inactive people. "They also have substantially lower rates of different forms of dementia, including Alzheimer's disease," Kramer says.

 2) Pump some iron
Older women who participated in a yearlong weight-training program at the University of British Columbia at Vancouver did 13% better on tests of cognitive function than a group of women who did balance and toning exercises.
 
 3) Learn new skills
Learning spurs the growth of new brain cells. "When you challenge the brain, you increase the number of brain cells and the number of connections between those cells. But it's not enough to do the things you routinely do "says Keith L. Black, M.D., chair of neurosurgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

4) Reduce Stress
Chronic stress floods your brain with cortisol, which leads to impaired memory. Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), which involves focusing one's attention on sensations, feelings and state of mind,  has been shown to reduce harmful stress hormones.
 
5) Eat like a Greek
A heart-friendly Mediterranean diet, fish, vegetables, fruit, nuts and beans, reduced Alzheimer's risk by 34 to 48% in studies conducted by Columbia University.

These fats may be equally important for maintaining a healthy brain and memory care.

6) Spice it up
Your brain enjoys spices as much as your taste buds do. Herbs and spices such as black pepper, cinnamon, oregano, basil, parsley, ginger and vanilla are high in antioxidants, which may help build brainpower. Scientists are particularly intrigued by curcumin. Indians have lower incidence of Alzheimer's, and one theory is it's the curcumin.

7) Find your purpose
Discovering your mission in life can help you stay sharp. Participants who approached life with clear intentions and goals at the start of the study were less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease over the following seven years.

8) Get a social life
Having multiple social networks helps lower dementia risk and your need for memory care. A rich social life may protect against dementia by providing emotional and mental stimulation. Other studies yield similar conclusions: Subjects in a University of Michigan study did better on tests of short-term memory after just 10 minutes of conversation with another person.

9) Reduce your risks
Chronic health conditions like diabetes, obesity and hypertension are often associated with dementia. Diabetes, for example, roughly doubles the risk for Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia. Controlling these risk factors can slow the tide.

10) Check vitamin deficiencies
Older adults don't always get all the nutrients they need from foods, because of declines in digestive acids or because their medications interfere with absorption. That vitamin deficit — particularly vitamin B12 — can also affect brain vitality.

AARP

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Recently, researchers looking into cognitive decline and dementia have made encouraging findings. Although it was believed that the adult brain could not develop new neurons (or brain cells), scientists have learned in the past decade or so that the human brain is pliable and adaptive. The brain can actually add new neurons even late in life and continually form new connections among existing neurons -- a phenomenon known as neuroplasticity.

This means that while an aging brain may have signs of damage, initially it can often compensate for them. And engaging in mentally stimulating activities like reading, taking a class or playing board games is one way to bolster this process.

This compensation process depends on your "cognitive reserve," the extra, perhaps unused, amount of cognitive ability that can make up for the loss of brain functioning when your brain shows signs of dementia due to the death of cells and their replacement by beta-amyloid plaques. Genetics, early childhood stimulation and education level can influence cognitive reserve but are essentially immutable once you're an adult.
 
Fortunately, studies have found that you can also increase your cognitive reserve and delay the onset of dementia through a variety of intellectually stimulating leisure activities in middle and later life.

A study in the journal Neurology found that among 101 people who eventually developed dementia, those who frequently participated in one or more activities, such as reading, writing, doing crossword puzzles, playing card or board games, having group discussions or playing music experienced memory decline more than one year later than those who participated in these activities less often. These pursuits built cognitive reserve and delayed dementia as much as a higher education level did.

It's worth noting that researchers have discovered that watching television is a passive activity that doesn't really stimulate the mind at all; on the contrary, watching television is associated with an increased risk of cognitive decline. One study found that TV watchers were 10% more likely than non-watchers to experience cognitive impairments over a five-year period. A possible explanation: Time spent in front of the TV means less time for the mental, social and physical activities that can help delay dementia.

Original article – Johns Hopkins Health Alert

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While no one can promise a sure-fire treatment to prevent memory loss, there are strategies that can significantly improve your chances of keeping Alzheimer's at bay.

Dr. Peter V. Rabins, acclaimed author and geriatric psychiatrist at Johns Hopkins, wrote “How to Protect Your Memory and Brain Health, 8 Key Strategies Focused on Saving Your Memory With Evidence-Based Research to Support Each Step.”

He is one of the nation's leading experts on the care and management of patients with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia.

Dr. Peter V. Rabins writes about eight steps to dramatically enhance your quality of life and reduce or delay your chances for memory deterioration.

Many experts believe that once you understand your various risk factors for cognitive decline, take control of them, and follow through with the evidence-based strategies detailed in How To Protect Your Memory and Brain Health, you'll be in a better position to keep your memory strong well into later life.
For example, do you know:

What's the best way to guard your memory and prevent dementia?

Stay heart healthy. Controlling high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease are absolutely critical to cognitive function.

What are the effects of too little sleep on keeping your memory sharp?

Many of us have trouble sleeping at night. Now new studies show that getting adequate sleep plays an essential role in learning new information, relating to names, dates, faces, facts, specific events - in short forming memory.

What's so special about the Mediterranean diet?

For years the marketing and promotion of dietary supplements that claim to enhance memory have left many people confused and wary. Now recent evidence-based research reported in the Annals of Neurology suggests that people who closely follow the Mediterranean diet have a 40 percent lower risk of Alzheimer's disease. The take-away: The food you eat, not the pills, can prevent or slow the rate of cognitive decline.

How does regular physical activity protect memory and reduce the risk of Alzheimer's?

Studies investigating the exercise/memory/dementia link have shown positive outcomes in recent years. There are benefits of regular exercise, incorporate exercise into your schedule.

How does stress affect memory?

We all know that living a stress-filled life is unhealthy. It turns out that stress is worse for us than we thought. Johns Hopkins researchers have linked high levels of the stress hormone cortisol with poor cognitive performance in older adults. And another study, reported in the journal Neurology, found that depressed and anxious people are 40% more likely to develop mild cognitive impairment.

Every day, scientists are proving that diminished memory and mental capacity are NOT inevitable - and can be slowed, halted or even reversed through good nutrition, lifestyle habits and more. Even Alzheimer's disease is not something that suddenly occurs in old age. Rather, it's a continuum of illnesses that gets its start decades earlier without any symptoms.

So it makes sense that if we could find a way to keep our brains healthier and better able to counter the damage that occurs with age, we could better the odds of preserving memory and preventing or forestalling Alzheimer's and other dementias.

A recent report from the National Institutes of Health supports this view. It provides evidence that vascular disease risk factors - including mid-life hypertension, high cholesterol and diabetes - can all predispose someone to developing memory problems-even Alzheimer's.

While this may not sound like good news - it is.

Because it points the way to the importance of effective prevention strategies - strategies you can begin TODAY to keep your brain healthier, longer.

Original Article – Johns Hopkins

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Commonly used prescription and over-the-counter drugs can cause memory problems and other cognitive impairments in older adults. These are drugs that many older adults take on a regular basis for conditions ranging from urinary incontinence to depression, sleep problems, allergies, respiratory conditions, and acid reflux.
 
According to a study, a long list of drugs have been linked with causing cognitive difficulties, including problems with memory, concentration, and delirium. The authors arrived at this conclusion by reviewing 27 studies that had addressed this problem.

The drugs in question belong to a class called anticholinergics. These drugs are given to block the actions of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine in the nervous systems. Acetylcholine helps with learning, memory, and concentration, as well as the functioning of the heart, blood vessels, airways, and the organs involved in digestion and the urinary tract.

50% of older people take an anticholinergic drug daily. Many take a combination of both prescription and over-the-counter drugs. Anticholinergic effects include confusion, attention deficit, impaired concentration, memory problems, light-headedness, blurry vision, constipation, dry mouth, and loss of bladder control.

Older people are more likely to experience these effects because the body produces less acetylcholine with age. This means the acetylcholine produced has less impact, and the effect of anticholinergic drugs is greater.
Patients should consult their doctor if they are experiencing memory or cognitive problems and are taking any medications.

Antihistamines and sleep aids such as Allerest, PediaCare, Periactin; Benadryl, Sominex, Unisom, Phenergan, Tagamet, Pepcid, Zantac are just some of the drugs that cause memory problems.

It’s important for older adults especially to have current information on any medications they are taking.

Original article Exmaxhealth.com

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The eyes are a window into the brain for many disorders, and Alzheimer's disease may be no exception.

In a pilot study, retinal scans to measure blood vessel thickness at the back of the eye showed strong correlations with the level of beta-amyloid deposits in the brain.

At a press briefing in advance of his formal presentation at the International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease (ICAD), Frost said the retinal scans could be a relatively easy and cheap way to screen people for preclinical Alzheimer's disease.

He reported early findings from a study which is tracking some 500 individuals as they age.

Some earlier studies have linked retinal abnormalities to cognitive dysfunction. For example, in a large 2009 study, patients with mild cognitive impairment were reported to be at almost 40% higher risk for age-related macular degeneration after controlling for other risk factors.

In the current study, participants were classified as having normal cognition, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), or Alzheimer's disease according to clinical assessments. A total of 146 were included in the current study: 110 healthy, 13 with MCI, and 13 with Alzheimer's disease.

The retinal scans measured central retinal arterial and venous diameters, with the arterio-venular ratio (AVR) as the primary indicator of possible Alzheimer's pathology.

Study participants also underwent PET scans.

Frost reported correlations between the retinal and PET scan data for 46 of the healthy controls, nine MCI patients, and three with Alzheimer's disease.

Preliminary findings from the study indicated that AVR values correlated significantly with amount of plaque build-up.

Perhaps the most important finding was that, in the cognitively normal individuals, the AVR values differed according to plaque build-up.

These values were significantly higher in the 15 individuals with large burdens relative to the 31 with low plaque levels.

Frost said the correlations were driven primarily by differences in retinal venous thickness.

William Klunk, of the University of Pittsburgh, who moderated the press briefing, said a test like this would probably be most useful as a preliminary screen.

Right now, the most accurate tests for detecting early or preclinical Alzheimer's disease require cerebrospinal fluid samples and PET scans. But these may be too expensive and invasive for broad screening of individuals with nonspecific symptoms or who only have risk factors for the disease.

"This test [the retinal scan] is on the end of easier to accomplish, completely noninvasive, and relatively inexpensive," he said.

However, "it's not going to have a perfect correlation to pathology in the brain," he added, although it could be very useful for identifying individuals who would possibly need more elaborate testing.

Original article on Medpagetoday.com

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As we age and our memory starts to fade, we all worry about our mental health and the potential for cognitive decline. But maintaining our mental health may not be any harder than going for a walk. A new, nine year study found that walking can keep dementia at bay. So put on your sneakers and go for a walk. Walking six miles a week protects the brain from shrinkage, which may slow the progress of cognitive decline.

Brain size shrinks late in adulthood which often is the start of dementia. Other studies suggest that physical activity protects against the deterioration of brain tissue, but no long-term studies have tested that theory. A study from the University of Pittsburgh wanted to do just that.

They asked 299 healthy, dementia-free men and women, average age 78, to keep track of the number of blocks they walked in a week.

After nine years, the researchers measured the brain size of the participants using high-resolution brain scans. The men and women who walked more had more gray matter. Those who walked approximately six to nine miles a week fared best, even after taking into account variables such as age, sex, body mass index and education. Walking more than 6-9 miles in a week didn't provide extra benefits.

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We expect our joints and lungs to slowly decline as we age, but the thought of our minds doing the same is scary. Here are some ideas to help prevent brain decline.

Scientists are starting to think that regular aerobic exercise may be the single most important thing you can do for the long-term health of your brain. While the heart and lungs respond loudly to  the treadmill, the brain is quietly getting fitter with each step, too. For mental fitness, aim for at least 30 minutes of physical activity every other day.

Too much or too little energy throws a kink in the brain’s delicate machinery. A low glycemic diet — high fiber, with moderate amounts of fat and protein — is broken down more slowly in the body. A steady pace of digestion in the gut gives a more reliable flow of energy to the brain, optimizing the organ’s long-term health and performance.

Largely preventable diseases — such as Type II diabetes, obesity and hypertension — affect your brain. System-wide health concerns have been linked to an increased risk of cognitive decline and memory impairments. Keeping your circulatory system in working order by avoiding cigarettes and saturated fat, lessens the onslaught of age-related brain wear and tear.

When we don't sleep, proteins build up on synapses, possibly making it hard to think and learn new things. Furthermore, chronically sleeping poorly (in contrast to not enough) is linked to cognitive decline in old age, although the relationship may not be causal.

Growing evidence suggests a caffeine habit may protect the brain. According to large longitudinal studies, two to four perk-me-ups a day may stave off normal cognitive decline and decrease the incidence of Alzheimer's by 30 to 60 percent. It is unclear whether the benefits come from caffeine or the antioxidants found in coffee and tea, but that latte may improve cognition this afternoon and several decades from now.

Some theories credit the introduction of fish into the human diet with the evolution of our tremendous cognitive ability. Fatty acids, such as Omega 3s, are critical to brain function and are proving beneficial for treating such brain-sapping ailments as depression. Studies on the efficacy of Omega 3 supplements, however, have had mixed results, so get doses from food sources, such as flax seeds, fatty fish and grass-fed animals.

Stress takes a toll on the brain by washing harmful chemicals over the hippocampus and other brain areas involved in memory. Some scientists suspect that living a balanced lifestyle and pursuing relaxing activities such as yoga, socializing and crafting may delay memory impairment by reducing stress.

Whether crossword puzzles, sudoku and other brain teasers actually keep your brain in shape, has not been well-established. However, lack of education is a strong predictor of cognitive decline. The more you've tried to learn, the better you'll be at mental sit-ups in old age. 

Information from Live Science

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One day your doctor might give you this prescription to prevent Alzheimer’s: Eat less red meat and sugar; eat more fruits, vegetables, fish and olive oil.

At least that seems to be the finding of a new study that found that eating a diet low in saturated fat and sugary treats can improve your memory and may reduce your risk of developing dementia.

Researchers with the University of Washington and Veterans Affairs Puget Sound medical center decided to see if a change in diet could affect the risk for Alzheimer’s or benefit those already suffering some mild but early symptoms of the disease.

What they found was that a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, grains, fish and olive oil can improve some memory skills in both healthy older adults, as well as those already experiencing cognitive difficulty.

More importantly, eating this kind of diet can help healthy adults reduce their risk of developing dementia, says study researcher Suzanne Craft with the Memory Wellness Program at the VA.

Researchers found that after four weeks on the low-fat diet, subjects had fewer toxic proteins and evidence of inflammation in their spinal fluid, both considered to be bio-markers for Alzheimer’s, Craft said.

“I like to think of this kind of diet as promoting healthy brain aging, as well as reducing the risk of Alzheimer’s,” she said.

The Washington state researchers wrote that they decided to take a “whole-diet” approach, rather than focus on a single dietary component, such as omega-3 fish oil. They also chose to test the subjects’ spinal fluid for bio-markers because of the importance of the central nervous system to brain health.

The 49 subjects, all older than 60, included 20 healthy adults with no signs of memory decline, and 29 who were at high-risk for Alzheimer’s, having already been diagnosed with some cognitive impairment.

They were randomly selected to either follow a four-week low-saturated fat, high-fiber plan similar to a Mediterranean diet, or a four-week high-saturated fat diet that included foods like red meat, butter, french fries and soda.

Both groups ate the same amount of protein and the diets were balanced so subjects did not lose or gain or weight.

However, for those who want to protect their brain health, it seems pretty clear from these preliminary results that eating a healthy diet is a powerful first step.

Original article on AARP

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