Can You BEAT DEMENTIA Using Your Tech?
Best apps & software to boost your brain & memory
Dementia is affecting an increasing number of people in the UK. According to the Alzheimer’s Society ( www.alzheimers.org.uk), around 850,000 people in the UK live with dementia, and that amount is estimated to rise to over a million by 2025 as our ageing population lives even longer.
There is no known cure for dementia, only treatments to manage the condition and address some of the underlying problems, such as stroke and heart disease, that can affect cognitive function. In recent years there have been several studies suggesting that technology could help to delay the onset of dementia, and ease its symptoms.
There are already many assistive technologies that help those already suffering from dementia – we’ll be looking at these in more detail on page 56. But there’s also a booming market of apps and computer games that claim to provide ways of staving off dementia by keeping the brain active.
Just how reliable are these claims, though? Do so-called ‘brain training’ games and other similar programs really work, or are they just a way to rip off a highly vulnerable section of society?
Can you really fight dementia with an app?
It has long been believed that exercising the grey matter can help to improve our cognitive fitness in the same way that physical exercise can help to keep our bodies healthy. That’s the basic theory behind brain-training apps, memory workouts and other computer games.
A number of recent studies have suggested that, in some scenarios, these techniques can have a beneficial effect. Last August, the International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology published the results of a study ( www.snipca. com/27441) that showed how an ipad app could improve the memory of patients in the earliest stages of cognitive decline. The study, carried out by researchers at Cambridge University, focused on a group of 42 patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (AMCI)
– a condition that is thought to be a transitional stage between healthy ageing and dementia.
The results showed that patients who played a brain-training game called Game Show (see screenshot above) demonstrated a 40 per cent improvement to their episodic memory, which is related to personal events, such as where we left our keys or parked the car.
A similarly positive result was published last November in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Translational Research & Clinical Interventions. This paper covered a wider, longer research project, known as the Advanced Cognitive Training in Vital Elderly (ACTIVE) study, that was conducted across a number of US universities.
The 10-year study examined the effectiveness of three different types of cognitive training – speed of processing, memory and reasoning – on 2,800 healthy adults. It concluded that participants who had undertaken the speed-of-processing training program had reduced their risk of developing dementia by 29 per cent. And, as it happens, the speed-of-processing training was entirely software-based – in other words, it was a computer game. But there was no such improvement in memory and reasoning.
Currently, it’s not possible for members of the public to install Cambridge University’s Game Show app, but the speed-of-processing training software used in the ACTIVE study is now commercially available as part of Brainhq ( www.brainhq.com), an online and app-based cognitive-training program from US company Posit Science (see page 53).
What’s the argument against?
That’s not to say Brainhq (which costs £9 per month) is proven to reduce the risk of dementia. In fact, before you spend any cash on brain-training apps, it’s worth noting that most experts agree there’s not enough evidence to suggest they can help prevent cognitive decline.
Dr Rosa Sancho, head of research at Alzheimer’s Research UK ( www. alzheimersresearchuk.org), is sceptical of the ACTIVE study results, pointing out flaws in the research, such as volunteers having to report their dementia diagnosis themselves. She said this is “a method that can be less reliable than clinical tests given as part of the study”.
Meanwhile, a separate study published last August in The Journal of Neuroscience ( www.snipca.com/27442) showed how researchers at the University of Pennsylvania carried out a trial on 128 healthy adults to determine the effects of the popular brain-training game Lumosity ( www.lumosity.com). Over the course of 10 weeks, some participants used Lumosity, while a second group played other games, and a third played no games at all. The results showed that those who used Lumosity failed to demonstrate any notable improvement in cognitive skills, compared with the other groups.
Lumosity costs £7.95 a month and has 85 million users worldwide. It claims its own study of 4,715 participants showed that those who trained with its program exhibited improvements “on an aggregate assessment of cognition” over those who just did an online crossword. But it admits that “we need to do more
research to determine the connection between improved assessment scores and everyday tasks in participants’ lives”. It’s also worth bearing in mind that in 2016 Lumos Labs (Lumosity’s developer) was fined $50m (around £35m) by the US Federal Trade Commission over claims of false advertising that “preyed on consumers’ fears about age-related cognitive decline” without providing any concrete scientific evidence to back it up. The company paid only $2m because it was all it could afford.
Some experts believe that the research behind many brain-training companies’ ‘scientifically proven’ claims is flawed. “The studies often lack an appropriate comparison group or sufficient follow-up to measure possible cognitive decline,” says William Kronos from Harvard Health, a publishing division of Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts. “Even the largest and longest of these studies combine cognitive training with exercise and diet, which makes it hard to determine the true contribution of the brain exercises.”
So, do brain-training games work or not?
This can’t yet be answered with a yes or no. ‘Maybe’ is as good as it currently gets. There are some positive signs, as the Alzheimer’s Society told us: “Research suggests that people who regularly challenge their brain – through hobbies, crosswords and other stimulating activities – tend to have lower rates of dementia”.
There’s always a ‘but’, though: “Some studies have shown that doing braintraining games can help maintain good brain function in those over 60, but as yet there is no good evidence that playing brain-training apps can prevent cognitive decline or the development of dementia”.
Alzheimer’s Research UK is similarly cautious, telling us that the “effects of specific brain-training games is not clear cut”. It added: “While we are seeing more research studies looking at the impact of these games, with some promising findings being published, the evidence is still very much in its early stages”.
Despite such uncertainty, both charities encourage regular mental exercise. Alzheimer’s Society cites “giving your brain a daily workout” among the things you should do to help lower the risks of dementia; while in its downloadable guide to reducing dementia risks ( www.snipca.com/27443, pictured), Alzheimer’s Research UK states that while “it’s not clear which types of mental activity may be most beneficial”, it’s still “a good idea to do things you enjoy”.
Part of the problem is that dementia itself is an umbrella term used to represent dozens of different conditions, and the risk is determined by a complex mix of age, genes and lifestyle. Vascular dementia, for example, is caused by reduced blood flow to the brain, usually following a stroke. Alzheimer’s disease, meanwhile, is caused by abnormal levels of proteins that build up around or within brain cells. The exact reasons why this occurs remain elusive.
So, while the jury’s still out on the benefits of cognitive training, keeping your brain active in some shape or form is highly likely to be beneficial, alongside a healthy balanced diet, not smoking, drinking in moderation and keeping weight, blood pressure and cholesterol under control. That could mean playing a game specifically built to boost your brain. Or it could simply mean tackling Sudokus and crosswords, or taking part in any other mentally stimulating activity, such as socialising, reading, and learning a new language.
Which games should you play?
Not all brain-training tools are created equal, however. One of the conclusions reached in the Cambridge University study was that many apps and programs “are overly repetitive and do not address the motivational deficits associated with older populations with memory difficulties”. In other words, they’re just not interesting enough to encourage people to use them.
We recommend some of the best ones over the next few pages. They all offer creative exercises that will keep you engaged, even if they won’t deliver on some of the more exaggerated promises made by their developers. As the Alzheimer’s Society told us: “When it comes to the benefits stated by companies with dementia technologies, if they sound too good to be true then they probably are”.
More research is needed to establish the true relationship between technology and dementia. You can be sure that we will keep you up to date with the latest developments.