Work up a sweat over brain fitness
Humans’ thinking apparatus can be kept in shape along with our bodies if we use a proper exercise regimen
Scientists once believed that humans were born with a finite number of neurons ( brain cells), intelligence was fixed by the time we reached adulthood and cognitive decline was inevitable as we aged. This is no longer the case.
The last 15 years of research has taught us that the roughly 100 billion neurons we are born with prolifically sprout new connections during our childhood, and get pruned like apple trees during adolescence to form networks that continue to rewire themselves during adulthood. We have also learned that we continue to grow a small number of new neurons through a process called neurogenesis. Combined, these processes give the brain its plastic, or adaptive, nature enabling it to change with experience over the course of our entire lives.
The consumer brain fitness industry is growing. Scientists turned entrepreneurs are creating products and training tools designed to boost cognitive performance, overcome learning disabilities and even stave off dementia. But until recently, these ambitions have been met with skepticism.
In late 2010, a paper titled “Putting brain training to the test” was published by a group of researchers from Cambridge University in the prominent journal Nature.
The paper was published alongside a BBC documentary titled Bang goes the Theory.
This made- for- TV study outlined the results found after testing whether using a computerized brain fitness program would boost “intelligence.” In it, 11,430 Britons were given a baseline intelligence test and the brain fitness program to take home. Each participant was instructed to engage in the program, at home on their own time, over the course of a six- week period, after which their intelligence would be re- tested.
To be included in the intelligence retest, participants only needed to complete two 10- minute training sessions over the six- week period and on average, each participant completed 25 sessions.
Put another way, the average person in the study only did about four hours of brain training over the six- week period.
Despite this limited training, the study showed that participants’ performance on exercises specific to the brain fitness program improved. However, it concluded that these improvements did not transfer to other tasks or measures of intelligence.
So while people got better at doing certain tasks in the program, they did not benefit from the program in general. It did not make them smarter.
The conclusion of the researchers and the BBC documentary was hard and fast — brain fitness programs don’t work and will never work and we should forget about the possibility of using brain fitness programs to boost our brain power.
The combined publicity of the flawed research cast a dark cloud over the entire brain fitness industry despite the contradictory evidence that there are scientifically and clinically proven methods for using brain fitness programs as part of a strategy to boost intelligence, slow cognitive decline and reduce dementia risk.
A few recent examples of this meaningful research:
1. A prominent group of researchers at the University of Michigan demonstrated that working memory training, when done properly and consistently over an eight- week period, does transfer to improvements on measures of fluid intelligence — the ability to reason and solve problems independent of prior experience.
2. Japanese researchers demonstrated that working memory training not only transfers to improvements of fluid intelligence, it also increases the structural connectivity between neurons in the parts of the brain responsible for higher- order cognitive functions.
3. Similarly, researchers at the University of California at Berkeley demonstrated that reasoning exercises and logic puzzles strengthen the connections between neurons in this same network while transferring to improvements on a real- world taskimproving LSAT scores.
4. Working memory training has been demonstrated to keep middleaged adults with cognitive impairments employed and has also been demonstrated to help people dealing with mental illness maintain employment.
5. And finally, two of the many studies seeking to find ways to help save the brains of aging adults found that using a cognitive training program for 40 hours over an eight- week period had generalized improvements in memory and attention and their activities of daily living — the things they need to do to keep their independent lifestyle.
That’s a lot of solid research demonstrating the effectiveness of brain fitness programs for making a positive impact on the lives of everyday people. But there is more to the story. Recent research has provided great support for the value of making brain fitness part of your daily routine. And this includes the research that has taught us that brain fitness is ultimately a lifestyle. There is much we can do to keep the brain healthy and fit alongside cognitive training.
• Physical exercise: It boosts the growth of new neurons and synapses.
• Eat right: “You are what you eat” especially applies to the brain.
• Be social: A lonely brain is not a healthy brain.
• Manage stress: Chronic stress kills neurons and sleep is essential.
• Challenge: Seek out novel challenges that break a “mental sweat.”
Each one of these lifestyle habits is a key piece of the brain fitness puzzle and is essential to maintaining a healthy brain and optimizing cognitive performance — no matter what your age.
The incidence of dementia is projected to triple by 2050, we are modernizing our education system to one that “teaches with the brain in mind” and changing technology is having an ever- growing effect on our brains and behaviour.
We need to start thinking of innovative ways we can apply this research for the benefit of all Canadians.
Armed with quality science and the ability to translate this knowledge, we are ready to begin a meaningful conversation with respect to how insurers and corporations can think forward to boost workplace performance and minimize rising dementia costs as boomers begin to retire.