According to researchers from Finland and Sweden, people who live alone have twice the risk of developing dementia and Alzheimer’s disease in later life compared with married or cohabiting people.

Being widowed or divorced in mid-life carries three times the risk of developing dementia, says study author Miia Kivipelto.

As life expectancy increases in various regions of the world, dementia is becoming a growing health concern. In 2005 an estimated 25 million people had dementia, and the number is expected to reach 81.1 million by 2040. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia and is the sixth-leading cause of death in the United States.

Dementia is a word for a group of symptoms caused by disorders that affect the brain. Memory loss is a common symptom of dementia. However, memory loss by itself does not mean you have dementia. People with dementia have serious problems with two or more brain functions, such as memory and language.

While there have been a number of studies linking being in a couple to good health and longevity this is the first study to focus on marital status and the risk of dementia.

The researchers interviewed a random sample of men and women derived from a group of 2000 adults. The participants came from two regions in Eastern Finland. They were initially surveyed at around 50 years of age and again around 21 years later. Participants were divided into the following groups: married/cohabitant, single, divorced or widowed. The team also investigated whether there was a link between living alone and being a carrier of the ApoE4 gene variant (or allele), the known genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s.

The results reveal that people living without a partner during middle age had a higher risk of developing cognitive impairment in late life compared to those living with a partner. Individuals who become widowed at this age are three times more likely to develop dementia. The study also concluded that carriers of ApoE4 gene variant who lose their partners and remain living alone have the highest risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.

These results are important for preventing dementia and cognitive impairment. As Kivipelto explains, we now know that it would be worth offering supportive intervention for individuals who have lost a partner.

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July 20, 2009
BY BRAD SPIRRISON chicagotechmatters@gmail.com

While popular exercise-focused video games like those played on Nintendo’s Wii Fitness appear to have some health benefits, brain games designed to enhance mental fitness are striving for clinical and commercial acceptance.

“We are learning that people can push out the natural effects of aging by playing cognitive games,” says Jim Hanekamp, founder of Glenview-based My Fit Brain.

Hanekamp, 53, started the company last year after his mother began to show early signs of Alzheimer’s. His research showed that while brain exercises could do little to reverse the effects of Alzheimer’s, they could positively impact neural growth earlier in life. This, in theory, could delay memory loss and other effects of brain aging.

The former corporate technology director has invested about $70,000 and months of salary-free time to develop a suite of brain training games found at www.myfitbrain.com. Games with titles like “Pair Em Up” and “CodeBreaker” test memory and logic function, and increase in difficulty based on the cognitive capacity of the user.

While Nintendo and neuroscience specialist Lumosity market paid and subscription-based games, everything on My Fit Brain is free to the user. Hanekamp, who has recruited 1,200 registered users and thousands more visitors to the site, hopes eventually to make money from advertisers.

“We have a new, patent-pending way to incorporate advertising within the game itself,” he said.

Although Hanekamp has had a tough go landing advertisers and investors — he was told he needs between 10,000 and 100,000 registered users to be a viable marketing channel — the company has contained costs by outsourcing its development to India and hosting the site on Amazon’s cloud computing service.

My Fit Brain is marketed largely via word-of-mouth, fueled by an instructive and regularly updated blog on the site that focuses on cognitive fitness issues.

Chicago Sun-Times article by Brad Spirrison

When is a memory lapse just a lapse and when is it a sign of something much more serious? Loss of memory is a great fear among older adults. Our memories define us.

According to the Alzheimer’s Association, every 71 seconds someone develops Alzheimer’s and 10 million baby boomers will develop Alzheimer’s disease in their lifetime.

All of us over a certain age have probably experienced a few “senior moments” — those disconcerting memory blips when you can’t come up with the right word, remember where you put the remote or even remember why you walked into a room. When we are younger, we can laugh off these memory lapses, but as we age they can become worrisome.

In the same way people have worked to reduce their risk of cardiovascular disease through diet and exercise, people can work to improve the health of their brains. Brain fitness can delay and even help reclaim some age-related cognitive decline and memory loss. Studies have shown it is not just a case of “use it or lose it.” With the right stimulation, it’s more like “use it and boost it.”
The article continues by explaining ways for individuals to stimulate their brain cells. If you are interested in learning about this, click the following link: Focus on Aging Brain

Landmark results from neuroscience research are debunking yet another myth about aging – that the brain continually loses cells and naturally dims with age.

On the contrary, recent studies show that if we continue to challenge our minds and stimulate our creativity, we not only feel better, we also cause our brains to sprout new branches, or dendrites. These new branches actually improve brain function and help compensate for the small loss of brain cells that comes with age.

In effect, the aging brain responds to mental exercise in much the same way that muscle responds to physical exercise.

In his new book, The Creative Age: Awakening Human Potential in the Second Half of Life, world-renowned psychiatrist and gerontologist Gene Cohen shares the latest findings in brain and aging research, and offers a plan for leading a creative and fulfilling life well beyond retirement.

For those who don’t think they have creative potential, Dr. Cohen emphasizes that creativity is not just for geniuses. One does not have to be born with inherited talent or raised in a special environment to be creative. It is universal. He calls it “an equal opportunity attribute.”

Dr. Cohen makes a distinction between creativity with a “big C” and creativity with a “little c.” He defines “big C” creativity as extraordinary accomplishments of unusual people, such as renowned artists, scientists and inventors. Creativity with a “little c” refers to personal creativity, grounded in the various and sundry realities of life. It is something one has brought into being and which has enhanced one’s life and given satisfaction. It could be a new recipe, a floral arrangement, a letter or poem that you wrote, or a new trick you taught your dog. Both dimensions of creativity are valuable, and both continue throughout the human life cycle, independent of age.

Read the rest of this article to learn how to keep your brain young: Think Young! Get Creative!

Getting older is unavoidable, but falling apart mentally or physically is not. The biological mind-body connection becomes more important as you age. After all, a sound mind won’t do you much good if your body fails.

Loss of memory or cognitive decline shows up in the little things first. You have a harder time calling to mind the names of people and places, you have something at the tip of your tongue but just can’t remember what it is, you go into a room to get something and can’t remember what it was. The prefrontal cortex, which is your search engine for your memory, can’t call it up. Everyone has this happen at some point in their life. When this happens, the hippocampus kicks in to provide other associations to try to jog your memory, but those names and places which used to come easily become more difficult.

Brain-function research shows that as you age the cells throughout your body gradually lose their ability to adapt to stress. In the brain, when neurons get worn down from cellular stress, synapses erode, which eventually severs connections. Dendrites physically wither, and you start losing a signal here or there. Losing a signal here or there isn’t such a big deal at first, because the brain is designed to compensate by rerouting information around dead patches in the network and recruiting other areas to help with trafficking. The good news is your brain is a social network; it thrives on making new connections and is constantly rewiring itself and adapting – provided there’s enough stimulation to spur the growth of new neurons.

Memory is possible because of your neurons. Neurons are electrically excitable cells in the nervous system that process and transmit information. Neurons never actually touch each other. They reach toward each other across a gap (synapse) with their axons and dendrites (tiny hair-like filaments that project out).

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Glenview, IL (PRWEB) April 10, 2009 — Myfitbrain announces the release of its innovative brain training software at no charge to users due to its unique advertising model. Myfitbrain, started with the premise of allowing everyone to benefit from fun software that stimulated the mind. In order for that to be possible, Myfitbrain came up with a new advertising model which allows advertisers to dynamically load products into the game pieces, significantly increasing product recognition when compared to traditional advertising methods.

Myfitbrain includes multiple types of mental fitness games focusing on different parts of the brain to sharpen the overall brain and encourage the generation new brain cells. While some consumers exclusively enjoy games such as Sudoku or crossword puzzles which stimulates some areas of the brain, stimulating many cognitive areas of the brain is significantly more beneficial. The learning management system built into Myfitbrain will maintain a player’s performance and drive them through the different games while challenging different cognitive abilities.

Read more about us, by clicking the following link: MyFitBrain

Ever lose your car in a parking garage? Forget the name of your best friend’s husband? Walk into a room and forget why you’re there? Relax. It’s probably not Alzheimer’s. These annoying little lapses, what many of us refer to as “senior moments,” are a normal part of aging. They may start in your 30s or 40s and become problematic or worrisome in your 50s and 60s.

The good news is there are many things you can do to improve brain power, but it does require effort and discipline.
Want to learn more? Read the rest of this article at: Exercise Your Brain