What I would view as controversial study results has recently been in the news. This study is the first I’ve seen to have anything negative to show about continuing to use our brains to the fullest capacity possible, for our entire lives. While I have great reservations about this information, I felt we should look at it.

The article, titled “Brain Exercise May Worsen Existing Alzheimer’s,” which appeared on the Medpagetoday.com site, suggests to me that these researchers found that those of us who develop Alzheimer’s and still try to hang onto our brain power by brain-enhancing exercise may actually worsen the disease.

What? I’m not a scientist and teasing apart research results isn’t something I’m trained for, so you may want to read the full article under the link above to decipher it for yourself, should you want to go into the full details. Please note that the terms cognitive decline, dementia and Alzheimer’s all seem to refer to Alzheimer’s disease for the purpose of this study.

This study aside, nearly all previous material I’ve read on keeping our brains healthy has encouraged us to exercise our brains as much as possible to avoid Alzheimer’s and some other types of dementia, and I personally wouldn’t let this new study change my view on that.

A quote, taken from the Medpagetoday.com article, suggests to me that, once more, researchers have found that brain exercise has delayed the appearance of the disease, thus the seemingly rapid decline.

“In effect, these results suggest that the benefit of delaying the initial appearance of cognitive impairment comes at the cost of more rapid dementia progression…”

This I get. Other studies have shown that people with active brains often don’t show signs of the disease as early as the general population, thus they seem to decline faster once they are diagnosed. But that seems to be because they are diagnosed at a later stage.

Appearance of the disease is also ambiguous, as the disease is known to begin long before any symptoms become evident. For now, it’s still hard to pinpoint just when Alzheimer’s begins.

What’s particularly confusing to me, though, is that the article also says, “More frequent cognitive activity was related to slower cognitive decline in those without cognitive impairment and more rapid cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s disease, with no effect in mild cognitive impairment.” Again, most other research shows that people with MCI benefit from challenging their brains.

The researchers are also quoted as saying, “Keeping mentally active may help stave off Alzheimer’s disease, but once patients are diagnosed with the condition, “brain exercise” may actually speed up cognitive decline…”

Are these researchers suggesting that when we learn a new language at the age of sixty, thinking the brain exercise is good for us, it’s only good for us if Alzheimer’s is not lurking somewhere in our future and not good for us after the diagnosis? Should we then quit challenging our brains?

Even if these findings are true, I would still choose to keep on learning. This is only one study and it seems at odds with nearly all other research. We’ll watch studies as they become news, but many come and go, soon to be overridden by studies done on larger groups of people over longer spans of time.

As I see it, just as physical exercise of some type is good for us no matter what our health status, brain exercise is also likely to be helpful. Whether that extends to hastening of Alzheimer’s symptoms at the end of our lives remains to be proven. I’m sticking with the idea that brain exercise is good unless overwhelming evidence points the other way – and even then, I’m not sure I’d buy that theory.

Posted in Alzheimer’s, Dementia, Studies | 2 Comments »
Tags: Alzheimer’s, Dementia, medical studies