Worried about mental ageing? You’re not alone. Recent reports indicate brain health is a top concern for many Australians. In fact, many Aussies fear mental decline more than they do physical decline.
At the 2010 UNSW Brain Sciences Symposium, Professor Tony Broe predicted that in the coming century, brain-diseases would become a leading cause of death.
But it’s not all bad news. This trend will be a result of increasing life spans, he said. (Essentially, a lift in cognitive complaints will result from the fact that there’ll be more of us considered part of the ‘ageing population’.)
How to best avoid becoming a statistic? Although they certainly help, ‘good genes’ aren’t the only answer, says Dr Zaldy Tan, director of The Memory Clinic at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical School Division on Aging and Harvard Medical School Division on Aging.
Rather, he says, ‘lifestyle factors’ are key. Zaldy bases this conclusion on the work of The MacArthur Foundation Network on Successful Aging, an interdisciplinary collaboration of researchers who examined more than 4,000 elderly Americans, including 1,192 ‘high functioning’ individuals in good or excellent psychological and physical health.
Here are some of his tips for a mind that ages ‘slowly and gracefully’:
Don’t become intellectually stagnant. Practise lifelong learning habits – these will alter the structure of your brain and give it greater ‘plasticity’ (neuroscientist speak for ‘flexibility’ and ‘agility’). “The more plastic brain has a greater functional reserve, which offers a protective buffer against the ravages of time and disease,” Zaldy says.
One thing anti-ageing specialists are certain of: the condition of your heart and that of your brain are intimately linked. People who ‘age well’ show good cardiovascular and lung health. Exercise is the key to these two positive markers. It also “promotes a good sense of general wellbeing that can optimise intellectual abilities,” Zaldy says.
The principles of eating for great brain health, according to Zaldy:
“More than ever, it is important for you to be aware of your mind’s strengths and weaknesses. This is the only way that you will recognise the appearance of the earliest signs of a memory problem,” says Zaldy. This could involve taking regular memory tests. Or, if it’s a loved one you’re worried about, start keeping a written record of episodes that concern you so you can track the progression of a potential problem.
“Sustained elevations of cortisol [the stress hormone] produce many adverse effects throughout the body and to the brain,” says Zaldy. One study, for instance, found that healthy volunteers exposed to brief periods of stress (which lead to a rise in cortisol) showed a decline in their memory performance. Look at what your major stressors are (such as your workload or a relationship that needs attention) and see what you can do to relieve them.
References available on request