Phyllis Jones wakes up every morning to sweat in countries around the world, “and even sometimes on the moon,” he said, thanks to his favorite training device, a virtual reality headset.
His approach in the exercise is in the years of the light where Jones, 66, from Aurora, Illinois, was only a few years ago. He had prediabetes, and his cholesterol and blood pressure levels were moving forward.
She was totally sedentary after falling into a deep depression. “I was in bed. I didn’t care at all. I was spiral,” Jones said.
She was probably also destined to lose her ability to think clearly.
Jones’ mother and grandmother died of vascular dementia, a condition that occurs when the body cannot pump enough blood to the brain. Other family members also had the disease.
“Seeing two generations to suffer made me decided to break the cycle for myself,” said Jones. “I’m not that person anymore.”
Four years ago, Jones joined an important clinical trial, called Us Pointer, which aimed to discover how older adults with high risk of dementia can be kept healthier for longer.
Half of the more than 2,000 participants received advice on a healthy lifestyle, including diet and exercise. The other half was pushed into a structured program based on the team that gave the objectives objectives to transform their lifestyles. The program included meeting regularly with experts and other participants, as well as brain exercises and aerobic classes. The participants received instructions to follow the mental diet, which exchanges food processed by whole grains, fruits, green leafy vegetables and other vegetables.
The researchers evaluated the cognitive function by measuring memory, the ability to concentrate when juggling with multiple tasks and how fast people interpreted and responded to the information.
After two years, both groups showed progress. But people in the structured group saw greater benefits.
“Our conservative estimate shows that, in relation to the self-guided group, the structured group was carried out at a level comparable to adults who were one or two younger years of age,” said Laura Baker, principal researcher and professor of Gerontology at the School of Medicine of the University of Wake Forest and advocated health in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
“This is what gives people an additional resilience against cognitive decline,” he said.
A higher support and responsibility in the structured group were key benefits.
“We will tell you what to do, but we will also help you get there, and we are going to work with you as a partner to meet you where you are,” Baker said during an informative session about the findings on Monday at the International Conference of the Alzheimer’s Association in Toronto.
The research, published simultaneously in the Journal of the American Medical Association, is the first large -scale random controlled trial that shows that organized and sustainable lifestyle interventions can have a measurable impact on brain health.
It is an important finding since the nation is on its way to double the number of people living with dementia by 2060. About 10% of Americans over 65 have been diagnosed with dementia, according to centers for disease control and prevention. Almost 7 million people in the United States have Alzheimer’s, the most common type of dementia.
While some drugs can stop the speed with which dementia develops, there is no cure.
“Some people are afraid, thinking that there is nothing that can do” to avoid dementia, said Dr. Richard Isaacson, neurologist and researcher at the Neurodegenerative Diseases Institute in Florida.
We are not helpless in the fight against cognitive decline.
Dr. Richard Isaacson
The new findings, he said, show that “we are not impotent in the fight against cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease.” Isaacson, who previously directed the Alzheimer’s Prevention Clinic in Newyork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, did not participate in the New Research.
This is not the only study to link lifestyle to a dementia delay.
Another investigation presented at the Alzheimer’s association conference discovered on Monday that walking regularly can protect the brain of people with a genetic risk for Alzheimer’s.
The beauty of lifestyle now demonstrated to help maintain acute cognition is that they can apply universally, said Rachel Wu, associate professor of psychology who investigates cognition in older adults at the University of California, Riverside.
“There is no problem, there are no side effects to do this, except only the time it takes,” Wu said.
Pointer test researchers also took blood samples and scanned the participants’ brains, looking for amyloid and tau proteins, associated with Alzheimer’s disease that form plaques and tangles in the brain.
These samples will be included in a future analysis of the study participants, said Heather Snyder, research researcher and senior vice president of medical and scientific relations in the Alzheimer’s association.
“If you have this biology, do you see a better answer? Less answer?” She said. “That is the type of significant question we can do with these data.” Additional findings are expected within the year, Snyder said.
Jones is anxious to see those results when they are available.
“I don’t know what they saw in my brain, but I know I’m a different person,” Jones said. He has lost 30 pounds and is no longer considered a prediabetic or candidate for statins to reduce her cholesterol.
“I’m going to keep moving, eating well, socializing, monitoring my comorbidities,” he said. “I’m going to take care of myself.”
