Getting up to speed can lower risk of dementia

People begin to lose cognitive ability at age 25. Dementia, or the decline of memory most commonly seen in aging adults, takes hold early on and is gradual, but accelerates in the seventh or eighth decade of our lives.

However, a researcher and the lead author on a groundbreaking medical study has found a way to reduce the risk of dementia by a remarkable 29 percent. The answer? Computer games.

Computerized brain-training exercises studied by Jerri Edwards, a professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences at the University of South Florida, are the first intervention of any kind to reduce the risk of dementia in older adults, according to the study, published in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Translational Research & Clinical Interventions.

The study followed more than 2,800 healthy senior adults in six locations for 10 years as they aged from 74 to 84, on average.

One group received regular instruction on ways to improve memory, another focused on reasoning and recognizing patterns. A third group used computers to focus on visual processing and how quickly they could identify an answer to a question.

Researchers compared the three groups to a control group of similarly aged people who received no training. They found no real difference in the risk of dementia for people in the memory or reasoning training groups. However, the risk dropped 29 percent for those who participated in the computerized speed-training.

Adults, even in their middle-aged years, should begin their own speed exercises as a preventative measure before they get older, Edwards said.

The study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, is one of the most successful to date, said Adam Woods, an assistant professor in the department of clinical and health psychology at the University of Florida.

Edwards and others on the research team found that those who completed more training sessions on the computer had even lower risk of dementia.