Posted 8-28-19
Maybe the title would be better stated “Is the brain LIKE a muscle”? I have wondered that ever since mom was diagnosed with a “mild kind of dementia” around a decade ago. Can brain exercise prevent dementia? Can it slow the progression? Did it slow the progression with mom? I mean, she played brain games on the komputer. I wouldn’t say she read a lot, but she did read as much as most folks. She played piano a lot, which is surely a brain-stretcher. Did it help? Can it help today in her late stage Alzheimer’s/mixed dementia?
So I “researched”. In other words, I Googled the heck out of the topic and tried to separate the fake news and content farms from the solid information, a Herculean task thanks to people like me who have completed thousands of content farm articles over the years (such as the every popular gem “How to Know if your Gerbil Likes You” and my authoritative “How to Deal With Swollen Ankles in Late Pregnancy”–a piece I wrote for The Bump, a pregnant woman’s website.) There is a lot of positive information that brain games can help slow the progression and/or even somewhat prevent the disease, although most stop short of saying that because they know that there are many causes and many needed cure. Here are just a few of the links I found interesting:
Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link
Some of the above links have duplicate information, but they have lots of links and are worth a look as a somewhat wild goose chaser.
Summary, among the clear-minded among them:
- Brain games are good for our mental health and help us age better. So is exercise. So is anything that is good for your heart. (Heart health is good for reducing the likelihood of the disease, so as much as anything is good for the heart, it is good for the brain.)
- Brain games do NOT cure Alzheimer’s
- Mario and other 3D types of games may have more usefulness in delaying moving beyond early-stage dementia
- Brain games do help you play brain games better. Perhaps not a lot else. However, it is hard to determine what causes improvement when it happens.
- Be careful promising cures and treatments lest you get sued for false claims…unless you happen to sell CBD Oil…then just carry on. (Sorry…I added that last part). Example: “Then, this past January, the Federal Trade Commission fined Lumosity, the largest and best-known provider of online brain games, two million dollars for making what the commission considered to be unsubstantiated claims of cognitive improvement.”
- Neuroplasticity is an important piece of any possible brain game benefit. (More here)
- Special interest groups seem to influence studies like this. Everyone wants a piece of the research action. The Alzheimer’s Association, a very solid group by all accounts, has its work cut out eliminating studies that are interested only in advancing their cause/product.
- There is no magic pill nor activity.
Summary of my summary: Who knows?? It doesn’t hurt.
Mom did brain games on the computer and played the paper versions of several games. She also ate well, walked miles a day, wasn’t alone, stopped smoking, took vitamins, and did most everything else fine…and is still under hospice care today. I don’t want these things as as much of a downer as it seems like it is, but it is a reality. We need to keep researching and fight for a set of cures or better treatments. No prevention skill or set of skills is foolproof or guarantees anything. It didn’t fix mom. Maybe it bought us some time in the earlier years when it was not in our face like it is now…maybe.
What say you in the brain games topic?
Update: Mom was about the same yesterday. I will see her today again and will check with the medical team to be sure her sores are better. She is very tired these days, a symptom of the disease and the symptom-fighting meds. If the brain is a muscle, mom’s muscles are pooped.
#EndALZ
Want to help me find a cure. Walk with or donate to our Walk to End Alzheimer’s team today 🙂 September 21st is the magic date. 🙂
