Mental Training Sessions: Long-Lasting Benefits for Seniors' Everyday Function
January 13, 2014
Science Daily/Wiley
Older adults who received as few as 10 sessions of mental (cognitive) training showed improvements in reasoning ability and speed-of-processing when compared with untrained controls participants as long as 10 years after the intervention. These gains were even greater for those who got additional "booster" sessions over the next three years. Older adults who received brief cognitive training also reported that they had less difficulty in performing important everyday tasks. The findings are published today in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
"Showing that training gains are maintained for up to 10 years is a stunning result because it suggests that a fairly modest intervention in practicing mental skills can have relatively long-term effects beyond what we might reasonably expect," said lead author Dr. George Rebok of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD.
"Our findings provide support for the development of other interventions for senior adults, particularly those that target cognitive abilities showing the most rapid decline with age and that can affect their everyday functioning and independence. Such interventions have potential to delay the onset of difficulties in daily functioning," said Dr. Rebok. He added that even small delays in the onset of mental and functional impairments may have a large impact on public health and help reduce rising health care costs.
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/01/140113100614.htm
People who enjoy life maintain better physical function as they age
January 20, 2014
Science Daily/Canadian Medical Association Journal
People who enjoy life maintain better physical function in daily activities and keep up faster walking speeds as they age, compared with people who enjoy life less, according to a new study.
"The study shows that older people who are happier and enjoy life more show slower declines in physical function as they age," states Dr. Andrew Steptoe, UCL. "They are less likely to develop impairments in activities of daily living such as dressing or getting in or out of bed, and their walking speed declines at a slower rate than those who enjoy life less."
People with low well-being were more than three times as likely as their positive counterparts to develop problems in their daily physical activities.
"This is not because the happier people are in better health, or younger, or richer, or have more healthy lifestyles at the outset, since even when we take these factors into account, the relationship persists," Steptoe says. "Our previous work has shown that older people with greater enjoyment of life are more likely to survive over the next 8 years; what this study shows is that they also keep up better physical function."
"Our results provide further evidence that enjoyment of life is relevant to the future disability and mobility of older people," Steptoe and coauthors conclude. "Efforts to enhance well-being at older ages may have benefits to society and health care systems."
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/01/140120121441.htm
Could restless sleep cause widespread pain in older people?
February 13, 2014
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Science Daily/Wiley
Researchers in the U.K. report that non-restorative sleep is the strongest, independent predictor of widespread pain onset among adults over the age of 50.
According to the study anxiety, memory impairment, and poor physical health among older adults may also increase the risk of developing widespread pain. Muscle, bone and nerve (musculoskeletal) pain is more prevalent as people age, with up to 80% of people 65 years of age and older experiencing daily pain. Widespread pain that affects multiple areas of the body —- the hallmark feature of fibromyalgia —- affects 15% of women and 10% of men over age 50 according to previous studies.
Analyses determined that pain status, anxiety, physical health-related quality of life, cognitive complaint and non-restorative sleep were associated with increased risk of widespread pain development, after adjusting for osteoarthritis (OA). Increasing age was associated with a decreased likelihood of the development of widespread pain.
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/02/140213083711.htm
Music as therapeutic intervention can relieve anxiety, depression in older people
February 25, 2014
Science Daily/RCN Publishing Company
Using music and singing in health care can improve quality of life for older people by easing pain, anxiety and depression. A literature review of articles related to anxiety and the use of music as a therapy for people over the age of 65 found it has a positive influence on wellbeing by providing enjoyment, social interaction, improved memory and social inclusion.
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/02/140225122324.htm
Too much sedentary time is linked to major disability after 60
February 19, 2014
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Science Daily/Northwestern University
If you're 60 and older, every additional hour a day you spend sitting is linked to doubling the risk of being disabled -- regardless of how much exercise you get, reports a new study. The study is the first to show sedentary behavior is its own risk factor for disability, separate from lack of moderate vigorous physical activity. In fact, sedentary behavior is almost as strong a risk factor for disability as lack of exercise.
"This is the first time we've shown sedentary behavior was related to increased disability regardless of the amount of moderate exercise," said Dorothy Dunlop, professor of medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and lead author of the study. "Being sedentary is not just a synonym for inadequate physical activity."
Studies with animals have shown immobility is a separate risk factor for negative effects on health. "This is the first piece of objective evidence that corroborates the animal data," Dunlop said.
• To cut down on sitting time, Dunlop has the following suggestions:
• Stand up when you talk on the phone or during a work meeting.
• When you go to grocery store or mall, park in a space farthest away.
• When you get up to have glass of water, walk around the house or office.
• Walk for short errands instead of taking the car.
• Take the stairs instead of the elevator, if you are able.
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/02/140219124728.htm
Sleeping more than 8 hours is risk factor for cognitive impairment in over 65s
April 23, 2014
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Science Daily/Asociación RUVID
Sleeping more than 8 hours and less than 6, and the lack of cognitive stimulation such as reading, favors the development of cognitive impairment in people over 65, research suggests. Cognitive impairment, often age-related, is associated with dementia. 35.6 million people worldwide suffer from dementia and given the progressive aging of the population 100 million cases are expected in 2050.
According to the authors of this study in addition to genetic factors, cognitive decline is also linked to risk factors such as age and others related to lifestyle, such as physical exercise, hours of sleep or intellectual stimulation. In the case of age, the study has found that the prevalence of recorded cognitive impairment shows a 9% increase each year, which means that every ten years the risk of suffering this illness doubles.
The study also showed that the lack of reading habit increases the risk of cognitive impairment 3.7 times and to only read occasionally increases the risk 2.5 times. Regarding sleep, researchers have found that sleeping less than 6 hours or more than 8 increases the risk of cognitive impairment by 2.6. Both chronic insomnia and daytime sleepiness are therefore risk factors associated with cognitive impairment and dementia.
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/04/140423095200.htm
Having a sense of purpose may add years to your life
May 12, 2014
Association for Psychological Science
Feeling that you have a sense of purpose in life may help you live longer, no matter what your age, according to new research. The research has clear implications for promoting positive aging and adult development, says the lead researcher.
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Feeling that you have a sense of purpose in life may help you live longer, no matter what your age.
Credit: © Vitaly Krivosheev / Fotolia
The research has clear implications for promoting positive aging and adult development, says lead researcher Patrick Hill of Carleton University in Canada:
"Our findings point to the fact that finding a direction for life, and setting overarching goals for what you want to achieve can help you actually live longer, regardless of when you find your purpose," says Hill. "So the earlier someone comes to a direction for life, the earlier these protective effects may be able to occur."
Previous studies have suggested that finding a purpose in life lowers risk of mortality above and beyond other factors that are known to predict longevity.
But, Hill points out, almost no research examined whether the benefits of purpose vary over time, such as across different developmental periods or after important life transitions.
Hill and colleague Nicholas Turiano of the University of Rochester Medical Center decided to explore this question, taking advantage of the nationally representative data available from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study.
The researchers looked at data from over 6000 participants, focusing on their self-reported purpose in life (e.g., "Some people wander aimlessly through life, but I am not one of them") and other psychosocial variables that gauged their positive relations with others and their experience of positive and negative emotions.
Over the 14-year follow-up period represented in the MIDUS data, 569 of the participants had died (about 9% of the sample). Those who had died had reported lower purpose in life and fewer positive relations than did survivors.
Greater purpose in life consistently predicted lower mortality risk across the lifespan, showing the same benefit for younger, middle-aged, and older participants across the follow-up period.
This consistency came as a surprise to the researchers:
"There are a lot of reasons to believe that being purposeful might help protect older adults more so than younger ones," says Hill. "For instance, adults might need a sense of direction more, after they have left the workplace and lost that source for organizing their daily events. In addition, older adults are more likely to face mortality risks than younger adults."
"To show that purpose predicts longer lives for younger and older adults alike is pretty interesting, and underscores the power of the construct," he explains.
Purpose had similar benefits for adults regardless of retirement status, a known mortality risk factor. And the longevity benefits of purpose in life held even after other indicators of psychological well-being, such as positive relations and positive emotions, were taken into account.
"These findings suggest that there's something unique about finding a purpose that seems to be leading to greater longevity," says Hill.
The researchers are currently investigating whether having a purpose might lead people to adopt healthier lifestyles, thereby boosting longevity.
Hill and Turiano are also interested in examining whether their findings hold for outcomes other than mortality.
"In so doing, we can better understand the value of finding a purpose throughout the lifespan, and whether it provides different benefits for different people," Hill concludes.
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/05/140512124308.htm
Immune response affects sleep and memory
June 12, 2014
Science Daily/University of Leicester
Sickness-induced insomnia is common because of the link between the brain and the immune system. Fighting off illness- rather than the illness itself- causes sleep deprivation and affects memory, a new study has found. Biologists said a common perception is that if you are sick, you sleep more. But the study, carried out in flies, found that sickness induced insomnia is quite common.
"The key message of this study is that the immune response, sleep and memory seem to be intimately linked. Medicine is beginning to study these links between the brain and the immune system in humans. Having an easy to use insect model would be very helpful."
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/06/140612085130.htm
Sleep quality, duration improve cognition in aging populations
June 16, 2014
Science Daily/University of Oregon
Maybe turning to sleep gadgets -- wristbands, sound therapy and sleep-monitoring smartphone apps -- is a good idea. A new study of middle-aged or older people who get six to nine hours of sleep a night think better than those sleeping fewer or more hours. Researchers found consistent associations between intermediate sleep durations, high sleep quality and enhanced cognitive performance across diverse populations, which suggests that improving sleep patterns may help reduce the level of cognitive decline as seen in older adults.
The study, based on the first wave of data from a continuing long-term project, focuses on people 50 years old and older in China, Ghana, India, Mexico, the Russian Federation and South Africa. Among the key findings were:
• Men reported higher sleep quality than women in all six nations, with men and women in Mexico reporting the highest.
• Women reported longer sleep durations than men in all countries except Russia and Mexico. Men and women in South Africa slept longer than in any other country. The least sleep hours for both sexes occurred in India.
• Individuals sleeping less than six hours and more than nine hours had significantly lower cognitive scores compared to those in the intermediate group.
"This study is hugely powerful and so different from what's been done in the past, simply because of the consistency of how the data was collected -- multi-national, random samples of people," he said. "Sleep is something that is important but often undervalued in our society.
"From doing this research and being familiar with the literature," he added, "an emphasis on sleep issues by the media in recent years is warranted. Every single piece of evidence that people look at now as they are investigating sleep and different health associations is all showing that sleep really, really, really matters. We're just now scratching the surface on what patterns of sleep normally are, and also what are these associations between sleep and health issues."
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/06/140616141545.htm
Stress hormone linked to short-term memory loss as we age
June 17, 2014
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Science Daily/University of Iowa
A new study reports a potential link between stress hormones and short-term memory loss in older adults. The study reveals that having high levels of cortisol—a natural hormone in our body whose levels surge when we are stressed—can lead to memory lapses as we age.
"Stress hormones are one mechanism that we believe leads to weathering of the brain," Jason Radley, assistant professor in psychology at the UI and corresponding author on the paper. Like a rock on the shoreline, after years and years it will eventually break down and disappear.
While previous studies have shown cortisol to produce similar effects in other regions of the aging brain, this was the first study to examine its impact on the prefrontal cortex.
And although preliminary, the findings raise the possibility that short-memory decline in aging adults may be slowed or prevented by treatments that decrease levels of cortisol in susceptible individuals, says Radley. That could mean treating people who have naturally high levels of cortisol -- such as those who are depressed -- or those who experience repeated, long-term stress due to traumatic life events like the death of a loved one.
Science Daily/SOURCE : http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/06/140617210118.htm
Link unlikely between insomnia symptoms, high blood pressure
June 25, 2014
Science Daily/St. Michael's Hospital
Insomnia does not put people at increased risk of developing high blood pressure, a new study has concluded. The study is believed to be the first to examine for hypertension among individuals who self-reported various frequencies of insomnia symptoms.
"By showing there is no link between this very common sleep disorder and high blood pressure, physicians can be more selective when prescribing sleeping pills and refrain from prescribing these medications from a cardio-protective perspective," said the author.
"After adjusting for many factors, including whether or not participants were receiving blood pressure pills or sleeping pills, there were generally no associations between insomnia and high blood pressure, even among people who were suffering from insomnia the most often," said Dr. Vozoris. "These results should reassure patients and their doctors that insomnia and high blood pressure are unlikely to be linked."
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/06/140625101657.htm
Little or poor sleep may be associated with worse brain function when aging
June 26, 2014
Science Daily/University of Warwick
Sleep problems are associated with worse memory and executive function in older people, new research concludes. Analysis of sleep and cognitive (brain function) data from 3,968 men and 4,821 women was conducted in a study where respondents reported on the quality and quantity of sleep over the period of a month.
In adults aged between 50 and 64 years of age, short sleep (<6hrs per night) and long sleep (>8hrs per night) were associated with lower brain function scores. By contrast, in older adults (65-89 years) lower brain function scores were only observed in long sleepers.
Dr Michelle A Miller says "6-8 hours of sleep per night is particularly important for optimum brain function, in younger adults." These results are consistent with our previous research, which showed that 6-8 hours of sleep per night was optimal for physical health, including lowest risk of developing obesity, hypertension, diabetes, heart disease and stroke".
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/06/140626172854.htm
Adults can undo heart disease risk by changing lifestyle
June 30, 2014
Science Daily/Northwestern University
The heart is more forgiving than you may think -- especially to adults who try to take charge of their health, a new study has found. When adults in their 30s and 40s decide to drop unhealthy habits that are harmful to their heart and embrace healthy lifestyle changes, they can control and potentially even reverse the natural progression of coronary artery disease, scientists found.
"This finding is important because it helps to debunk two myths held by some health care professionals," Spring said. "The first is that it's nearly impossible to change patients' behaviors. Yet, we found that 25 percent of adults made healthy lifestyle changes on their own. The second myth is that the damage has already been done -- adulthood is too late for healthy lifestyle changes to reduce the risk of developing coronary artery disease. Clearly, that's incorrect. Adulthood is not too late for healthy behavior changes to help the heart."
The bad news is that 40 percent of this sample lost healthy lifestyle factors and acquired more bad habits as they aged. "That loss of healthy habits had a measurable negative impact on their coronary arteries," Spring said. "Each decrease in healthy lifestyle factors led to greater odds of detectable coronary artery calcification and higher intima-media thickness. Adulthood isn't a 'safe period' when one can abandon healthy habits without doing damage to the heart. A healthy lifestyle requires upkeep to be maintained."
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/06/140630164517.htm
The less older adults sleep, the faster their brains age
July 1, 2014
Science Daily/Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School Singapore
Researchers have found evidence that the less older adults sleep, the faster their brains age. These findings, relevant in the context of a rapidly ageing society, pave the way for future work on sleep loss and its contribution to cognitive decline, including dementia.
"Our findings relate short sleep to a marker of brain aging," said Dr June Lo, the lead author and a Duke-NUS Research Fellow. "Work done elsewhere suggests that seven hours a day(2) for adults seems to be the sweet spot for optimal performance on computer based cognitive tests. In coming years we hope to determine what's good for cardio-metabolic and long term brain health too," added Professor Michael Chee, senior author and Director of the Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience at Duke-NUS.
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/07/140701091458.htm
High stress, hostility, depression linked with increased stroke risk
July 10, 2014
Science Daily/American Heart Association
Higher levels of stress, hostility and depressive symptoms are associated with significantly increased risk of stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA) in middle-age and older adults, according to new research. A TIA is a stroke caused by a temporary blockage of blood flow to the brain.
Compared to people with the lowest psychological scores, those with highest scores were:
86 percent more likely to have a stroke or TIA for high depressive symptoms.
59 percent more likely to have a stroke or TIA for the highest chronic stress scores.
More than twice as likely to have a stroke or TIA for the highest hostility scores.
No significant increased risk was linked to anger. "There's such a focus on traditional risk factors -- cholesterol levels, blood pressure, smoking and so forth -- and those are all very important, but studies like this one show that psychological characteristics are equally important," said Susan Everson-Rose, Ph.D., M.P.H., study lead author and associate professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/07/140710161437.htm
Physical activity in older adults linked to brain white-matter integrity
September 17, 2014
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Science Daily/University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Like everything else in the body, the white-matter fibers that allow communication between brain regions also decline with age.
In a new study, researchers found a strong association between the structural integrity of these white-matter tracts and an older person's level of daily activity -- not just the degree to which he or she engaged in moderate or vigorous exercise, but also whether the person was sedentary the rest of the time.
"This relationship between the integrity of tracts connecting the hippocampus and sedentariness is significant even when we control for age, gender and aerobic fitness," she said. "It suggests that the physiological effect of sitting too much, even if you still exercise at the end of the day for half an hour, will have a detrimental effect on your brain."
The findings suggest that engaging in physical activity and avoiding a sedentary lifestyle are both important for brain health in older age, Burzynska said. "We hope that this will encourage people to take better care of their brains by being more active," she said.
The team found that the brains of older adults who regularly engaged in moderate-to-vigorous exercise generally "showed less of the white-matter lesions," Burzynska said.
The association between physical activity and white-matter structural integrity was region-specific, the researchers reported. Older adults who engaged more often in light physical activity had greater structural integrity in the white-matter tracts of the temporal lobes, which lie behind the ears and play a key role in memory, language, and the processing of visual and auditory information.
In contrast, those who spent more time sitting had lower structural integrity in the white-matter tracts connecting the hippocampus, "a structure crucial for learning and memory," Burzynska said.
"This relationship between the integrity of tracts connecting the hippocampus and sedentariness is significant even when we control for age, gender and aerobic fitness," she said. "It suggests that the physiological effect of sitting too much, even if you still exercise at the end of the day for half an hour, will have a detrimental effect on your brain."
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/09/140917141429.htm
Insomnia among older adults may be tied to sleep quality, not duration
October 8, 2014
Science Daily/University of Chicago
Reports of insomnia are common among the elderly, but a new study finds that sleep problems may stem from the quality of rest and other health concerns more than the overall amount of sleep that patients get.
Even though reported sleep problems are common among older individuals, according to the survey only about 13 percent of older adults in the study said that they rarely or never feel rested when waking up in the morning. About 12 percent reported often having trouble falling asleep, 30 percent indicated they regularly had problems with waking up during the night and 13 percent reported problems with waking up too early and not being able to fall asleep again most of the time.
"Our findings suggest that reports of what seem like specific sleep problems from survey questions may be more accurately viewed as indicators of general problems or dissatisfaction with sleep that may be due to other issues in their lives affecting their overall well-being. These survey questions and actigraphy may measure different aspects of sleep experience."
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/10/141008131158.htm
Sport in old age can stimulate brain fitness, effect decreases with advancing age
October 20, 2014
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Science Daily/DZNE - German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases
Physical exercise in old age can improve brain perfusion as well as certain memory skills, say neuroscientists who studied men and women aged between 60 and 77. In younger individuals regular training on a treadmill tended to improve cerebral blood flow and visual memory. However, trial participants who were older than 70 years of age tended to show no benefit of exercise.
Physical exercise is known to have considerable health benefits: the effects on the body have been researched extensively, the effects on brain function less so. An increase in brain perfusion through physical exercise had previously only been demonstrated empirically in younger people.
The new study shows that some aging brains also retain this ability to adapt, even though it seems to decrease with advancing age. Furthermore, the results indicate that changes in memory performance resulting from physical exercise are closely linked to changes in brain perfusion.
"We are looking for ways of delaying or even stopping the progression of the disease. And we are also researching methods of prevention," emphasizes Düzel. "Connecting physical activity and mental exercise may have a broad impact, and combined training might become a therapeutic approach. However, this has yet to be shown. In fact, our current results suggest that we may need pharmacological treatments to make exercise more effective."
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/10/141020134902.htm
Dietary cocoa flavanols reverse age-related memory decline in healthy older adults
October 26, 2014
Science Daily/Columbia University Medical Center
Dietary cocoa flavanols -- naturally occurring bioactives found in cocoa -- reversed age-related memory decline in healthy older adults, according to a new study. Flavanols are also found naturally in tea leaves and in certain fruits and vegetables.
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As people age, they typically show some decline in cognitive abilities, including learning and remembering such things as the names of new acquaintances or where one parked the car or placed one's keys. This normal age-related memory decline starts in early adulthood but usually does not have any noticeable impact on quality of life until people reach their fifties or sixties. Age-related memory decline is different from the often-devastating memory impairment that occurs with Alzheimer's, in which a disease process damages and destroys neurons in various parts of the brain, including the memory circuits.
The high-flavanol group also performed significantly better on the memory test. "If a participant had the memory of a typical 60-year-old at the beginning of the study, after three months that person on average had the memory of a typical 30- or 40-year-old," said Dr. Small. He cautioned, however, that the findings need to be replicated in a larger study -- which he and his team plan to do.
Besides flavanols, exercise has been shown in previous studies, including those of Dr. Small, to improve memory and dentate gyrus function in younger people. In the current study, the researchers were unable to assess whether exercise had an effect on memory or on dentate gyrus activity. "Since we didn't reach the intended VO2max (maximal oxygen uptake) target," said Dr. Small, "we couldn't evaluate whether exercise was beneficial in this context. This is not to saythat exercise is not beneficial for cognition. It may be that older people need more intense exercise to reach VO2max levels that have therapeutic effects."
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/10/141026195046.htm
Traumatic brain injury associated with increased dementia risk in older adults
October 27, 2014
Science Daily/The JAMA Network Journals
Traumatic brain injury appears to be associated with an increased risk of dementia in adults 55 years and older, according to a study. "Whether a person with TBI recovers cognitively or develops dementia is likely dependent on multiple additional risk and protective factors, ranging from genetics and medical comorbidities to environmental exposures and specific characteristics of the TBI itself," the authors note.
Researchers Raquel C. Gardner, M.D., of the University of California, San Francisco, and colleagues examined the risk of dementia among adults 55 years and older with recent TBI compared with adults with non-TBI body trauma (NTT), which was defined as fractures but not of the head or neck. The study included 164,661 patients identified in a statewide California administrative health database of ED and inpatient visits.
In the study, a total of 51,799 patients with trauma (31.5 percent) had TBI. Of those, 4,361 patients (8.4 percent) developed dementia compared with 6,610 patients (5.9 percent) with NTT. The average time from trauma to dementia diagnosis was 3.2 years and it was shorter in the TBI group compared with the NTT group (3.1 vs. 3.3 years). Moderate to severe TBI was associated with increased risk of dementia at 55 years or older, while mild TBI at 65 years or older increased the dementia risk.
"Whether a person with TBI recovers cognitively or develops dementia, however, is likely dependent on multiple additional risk and protective factors, ranging from genetics and medical comorbidities to environmental exposures and specific characteristics of the TBI itself," the authors note.
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/10/141027182847.htm