Khaberni - A recent study stated that a 10-week online brain training program helped the brains of the elderly work as if they were a decade younger.
As with physical exercise for the body, regular mental exercises can help maintain brain health. As one ages, brain processes that support memory, attention, and decision-making may become less efficient. It is believed that keeping the mind active enhances the brain's ability to better adapt to these age-related changes.
According to "Medical Xpress", studies indicate that those who maintain their mental, physical, and social activity are less likely to develop dementia.
Brain Training Application
This latest study adds to what we know by testing whether brain-training programs, BrainHQ in this case, are capable of changing brain chemistry, providing biological evidence of how brain training works.
The app offers short, game-like exercises that train cognitive skills such as attention, memory, and brain speed. As users improve, the challenges become more difficult, pushing the brain to adapt, just like increasing weights during a workout.
The Experiment
92 healthy individuals from Canada, aged 65 or older, participated in the trial. Half of them completed brain training exercises using the app for 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week, for 10 weeks. The other half, a comparison group, spent the same amount of time playing games designed solely for entertainment, such as solitaire.
To assess the impact of the program, participants underwent specialized examinations before and after 10 weeks of training to detect minor chemical changes in brain activity. Researchers focused on the anterior cingulate cortex, which plays a significant role in attention, learning, and memory.
Positive Results
Those who completed the exercises based on speed displayed stronger activity in this area compared to participants in the comparison group.
Researchers described the notable change in brain chemicals as equivalent to biological age renewal, 10 years. Aging and cognitive decline, including Alzheimer's disease, are often associated with decreased activity in this part of the brain. Therefore, enhancing it may help delay or reduce cognitive decline and the risk of dementia in later stages of life.
