By JOHN OWEN

The Brain Health Project is a scientific study currently being undertaken by the Center for Brain Health at the University of Texas at Dallas, a nonprofit research institute dedicated to helping people understand and address their brain’s health and performance.

The Center for Brain Health team conducts leading-edge research and creates science-backed programs to help people be more proactive about their brain health. The fact that human longevity has increased by more than 50 percent in the last century means that our bodies can outlast our brains. According to the American Heart Association, in 2020, 54 million people worldwide had Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias—a 144 percent increase in the last 30 years.

Many research studies have shown that cognitive decline is largely preventable. The Brain Health Project hopes to prove that most of us can—by adopting healthier brain habits— preserve, extend, and even improve our cognitive function.

Participating in The Brain Health Project is like having a personal trainer, a brain health coach who will help you improve, track, and measure your brain fitness. They currently have more than 25,000 people enrolled in the study with a target of 100,000 enrollees. The program will track participants for 10 years, building a database of how people respond to various methods designed to improve their brain function. Nearly 80 percent of participants in an early trial experienced improved cognitive performance, with many also noting reductions in stress and anxiety. The good news? You can enroll today for free!

Their easy-to-use online platform (https://centerforbrainhealth.org/project ) gives you access to:

• A unique, science-backed assessment of your brain’s fitness level, which they call the BrainHealth Index. It will provide a snapshot of your brain’s health and performance, allowing you to track change and improvement over time.

• Interactive, self-paced brain training using what they refer to as Strategic Memory Advanced Reasoning Tactics(SMART) Brain Training and other modules.

• Quarterly face-to-face virtual coaching sessions via Zoom. You’ll work with your coach to set personal goals and start building brain-healthy habits using their online training. Topics include sleep, stress management, and social relationships.

SMART Brain Training is the proprietary methodology developed and tested by the Center for Brain Health researchers and other teams over three decades. It teaches techniques that prime the brain, calibrate mental energy, reinforce strategic thinking, and ignite innovation. This methodology provides the building blocks of their brain training programs for individuals.

When you enroll in the brain health program, you might be surprised to learn that there is an opportunity for engagement every day. And they’re not bashful about encouraging you to keep working on your training with text and email reminders. Topics include Strategic Attention, Integrated Reasoning, Innovation, and application of SMART Strategies. Each session has a short video introduction explaining the purpose of that session, followed by a variety of brain tasks. Each group of tasks takes five to 10 minutes and you’re expected to do one a day. The interface with the program is simple and easy to navigate.

John Owen transitioned from life as a graphic artist/website designer to a biomedical executive at age 61. After 20 years in the biomedical business, he now uses his knowledge of medicine and physiology to write about successful, vibrant aging. This is excerpted from his forthcoming book on super-agers.

Read More on Maximizing Your Brain Health:

Do You Need a Personal Trainer for Your Brain?

Lifelong Learning Keeps Your Mind Young

Enlightened Aging: Forgetful Need Not Lead to Fretful

The post The Brain Health Project appeared first on 3rd Act Magazine.

There is an old saying: “You don’t stop learning when you get old; you only get old when you stop learning.” A few years back, I found myself aging (mentally) from a decline in learning and intellectual activity.

As a young man, I went to college and graduate school. After that, I became of professor of mathematics. Throughout my career, I have enjoyed teaching and learning. But after retirement, I slowly began to lose my edge—my learning instinct. I still read library books and the newspaper, but it wasn’t the same. Perhaps my mind was aging from my lack of intellectual stimulation.

As a man near 70, I didn’t feel comfortable taking courses at a local university or community college with students my grandchildren’s age. And I certainly didn’t want to cram for quizzes and tests. I just wanted to learn and be stimulated again.

Then I discovered the Creative Retirement Institute (CRI), a lifelong-learning program at Edmonds College in Edmonds, Wash., that has been around now for more than 30 years. It offers short, non-credit, college-level courses at a modest cost. The courses meet once a week and are between one and four weeks long.

CRI is not alone. The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute is associated with the University of Washington and offers similar non-credit courses to people over 50. These programs have everything you love about school—the excitement of learning, interesting professors/instructors, making friends with your classmates, and having fun.

These programs have none of the things you hated about school. There are no term papers, no quizzes or examinations, no oral reports, no grades, no $200 books to buy, and no pressure. Basically, all the laughs and none of the tears.

So, I began taking courses at CRI in a broad gamut of areas, many of which I had never taken in college. I took short courses on the philosophy of science and existentialism, the physics of music, the geology of the national parks, the art museums of New York and Paris, the art of Georgia O’Keefe, and the history of America, China, and medieval Europe.

I took courses on opera in Hollywood films, the birds of the Northwest, the history of jazz, the history of maps and mapmaking, political cartooning, conspiracy theories, the intertidal zone, trees and forestry in the Northwest, and the creation of the borders in the Middle East.

Again, no tests, just the pure fun of learning and meeting other intellectually curious adults, in courses taught by instructors very well versed in the topics they are teaching.

It was a thrill to be learning again. However, at some point, I asked one of the leaders of CRI, “Why are there no math courses?” The answer was simple. “Nobody has offered any; how about you, Howie?” So, if I was sincere in my quest to renew my intellectual stimulation, I needed to accept this challenge.

So I did. I wrote a proposal to teach a mini-course on the paradoxes of infinity. The trick would be to explain the subtleties of infinity in simple, understandable terms to intelligent, non-mathematicians. Also, I couldn’t stand and teach at a chalkboard as in the good old days.

I had to relearn PowerPoint and with it create more than 200 slides. And each slide had to have clear and vivid graphics. That required a lot of visits to the internet, especially Wikipedia, and various books on the topic. But that was the idea, to get my mind active again, and to be teaching in front of people again. And I’d like to think the older adults in my CRI “Paradoxes of Infinity” course found the very counterintuitive notions of infinity getting their minds active again.

After that, I devised and taught a CRI course on visual mathematics, which involved topics such as tiling floors with shapes other than square tiles, spaces where there are no parallels, situations where coffee cups and donuts are the same thing, why the coast of Norway is somewhere between one and two dimensions, and so on. Again, interesting counterintuitive material.

I then went on to create courses on “How to Lie with Statistics” (exposing tricks advertisers and politicians use with numbers), “The History of Zero and Other Numbers You Love,” “What We Learn from Big Data” and a course “About Time.” In all of these, I knew the underlying mathematics, but there were still subtleties that were new even to me.

I was learning along with my retired classmates. Our minds were staying active and alert. And in that sense, we were staying young. Of course, we still had arthritic knees, but our minds were firing on all cylinders. And I thank the Creative Retirement Institute and all the other lifelong-learning programs for that.

Howie Silver grew up near Chicago and has degrees in physics and information engineering, as well as a Ph.D. in mathematics. He is a retired professor of mathematics and computer science at Chicago State University. He moved to the Pacific Northwest to be near his children and grandchildren.

More Articles that Support Lifelong Learning:

Head of the Class: The Joy and Benefits of Lifelong Learning

Understanding AI

This is Your Brain on Astrophysics

Eastside Lifelong Learners Find Classes and Community via TELOS and TSO

This is Your Brain on Astrophysics

The post Lifelong Learning Keeps Your Mind Young appeared first on 3rd Act Magazine.

“Exercise is the most important thing you can do to maintain your cognitive health.”
—Dr. Sharon Inouye, Director of Harvard University Medical School/Aging Brain Center

Identical twins we’ll call Sarah and Susan posed a real mystery to researchers in England a few years ago. When exhaustive biometric measurements were taken, the sisters were discovered to be exactly the same in all respects. During their years in the study, however, Susan’s brain became smaller and unhealthy compared to Sarah’s. Susan’s smaller brain led, unsurprisingly, to reduced cognition and function, whereas Sarah’s larger brain continued to function normally. Susan also suffered from weakness.

In addition to their examination of physiological and cardiovascular risk factors such as cholesterol and blood pressure, researchers examined small details of the twins’ lives. The twins grew up in the same house, had similar diets, and attended the same schools. Both married at about the same age and had remarkably similar husbands and families. Their careers were also similar. Neither was subject to more stress in their life, and neither was exposed to unique environmental hazards.

When they went back to reexamine their data in more detail, the researchers found only one small difference—Sarah had stronger leg muscles. There, at last, they found their answer: Sarah walked a lot and Susan was sedentary. That small detail was the deciding factor in their vastly different mental conditions as they aged.

The researchers conducting the study know a lot about twins. They are a part of the Twin Project conducted by the Department of Twin Research & Genetic Epidemiology at King’s College, London. The project has, since 1992, studied more than 20,000 twins. Its mission, as stated on its website, is to “investigate the genetic and environmental basis of complex diseases and conditions to understand how genetic variation relates to human health.” The researchers have amassed a remarkable amount of genetic data.

How, you might ask, does leg strength relate to cognitive health as people age? According to Claire Steves, Ph.D., a geriatrician who heads the Twin Research & Genetic Epidemiology department, brain imaging was done at the beginning of the study. Years later, when imaging was done again, Sarah, the twin with the stronger legs had more gray matter and more white matter with less empty space in the skull. “Looking at the X-rays, you don’t need to be a neuroscientist to see that the empty spaces are much smaller in the stronger twin than in the weaker twin,” Dr. Steves says. And most people will agree that you don’t have to be a neuroscientist to know that having empty spaces in your brain is a bad thing!

Why was Sarah’s brain larger? Because, when you walk, your legs pump blood to your brain delivering more oxygen and nutrients to feed your brain, helping it to function and thrive. The legs are sometimes called “the muscle pump” or “the second heart” because they have a system of muscles, veins, and one-way valves in the calf and foot that work together to push blood back up to the heart and lungs. The vein valves open and close with each muscle contraction to prevent the backflow of blood.

We all lose muscle mass and strength beginning around the age of 30 and progressing at approximately three to eight percent per decade. The rate of decline is even higher after the age of 60. This is why we all need exercise—to slow or prevent this decline. In the case of the twins, Sarah’s walking protected her from at least some of these problems since she didn’t exhibit any symptoms of frailty and weakness. Susan’s lack of walking, on the other hand, resulted in muscle wasting (sarcopenia), which contributes to frailty and falls. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that more than 25 percent of all Americans over the age of 65 will fall each year.

By her practice of walking, Sarah was not only supplying more blood, oxygen, and nutrients to the brain, but the moving blood caused profound changes in her body chemistry through a magical process called mechanotransduction. Don’t let that word scare you. If you can say mechanic transmission, it’s almost the same thing. Let’s just call it transduction.

When blood is flowing through your arteries, the blood cells create friction with the lining of that vessel, called the endothelium. The cells forming the endothelium respond to this friction by producing chemicals. It’s kind of like rubbing something to create static electricity, which is another kind of transduction.

What kinds of chemicals? Many helpful substances such as antioxidants, anti-inflammatories, and anticoagulants. Walking also causes the muscles to produce several myokines, which are small messenger proteins that can help reduce the chemicals (tau and amyloid beta) that cause Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. Marc Milstein, PhD, author of The Age Proof Brain, says, “Simply walking is really important for your brain health and people who walk 30 minutes a day can lower their risk of dementia by about 60 percent.”

According to Walking for Health, published by the Harvard Medical School, you can lower your blood pressure, fight heart disease, reduce the risk for diabetes, relieve depression, improve memory, and add healthy years to your life just by walking! Harvard advertises the booklet as, “The simple cure for the biggest health problem in America.”

Does this mean that you can delay or even escape cognitive decline if you just keep walking? Well yes, it probably does. It depends on your current health and age, any other medical conditions you may have, and how faithfully you adhere to the requirements of your walking routine. There are some requirements, of course. You should walk at least 150 minutes a week at a brisk pace of about 100 steps per minute. That’s about the tempo of Stayin’ Alive by the BeeGees, Another One Bites the Dust by Queen, or Walking After Midnight by Garth Brooks. You can walk 30 minutes a day for five days or 15, 10-minute sessions scattered throughout the week. If you really want to delay the cognitive effects of aging and stay mentally sharp, just do like Aerosmith and Walk This Way!

John Owen transitioned from life as a graphic artist/website designer to a biomedical executive at the age of 61. After 20 years in the biomedical business, he now uses his knowledge of medicine and physiology to write about successful, vibrant aging. This is excerpted from his forthcoming book on super-agers.

More articles on the cognitive benefits of exercise:

Your Brain is like a Reservoir. Replenish it with Healthy Activity.

Exploring the Connection between Muscle Mass and Longevity

Do You Need a Personal Trainer for Your Brain?

Personal Trainer for your Brain

The post Walk This Way: Walking Can Prevent Cognitive Decline appeared first on 3rd Act Magazine.

By DR. ERIC B. LARSON

In 1978, as I completed my residency and fellowship training and joined the University of Washington faculty, I had a dizzying array of interests.

Aging, and especially the aging brain and dementia, piqued my curiosity, although dementia research and care were not then in the mainstream. Demographic forces portended we would need a lot more research to understand aging processes. The predicted growth of many persons living to advanced old age is now a fact of life. But in the late 1970s, dementia occupied the backwaters of academic medicine. Back then, those who lived into their late 70s, 80s, and beyond and became impaired were typically seen as just experiencing old age or normal senility. Alzheimer’s disease was considered a cause of pre-senile dementia—described decades earlier in the rare, strange case of a middle-aged woman.

Changing demographics predicted a “silent epidemic of dementia in the elderly.” A growing fear of dementia likely contributed to the explosion of interest in Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias since the late 1970s—fueled partly by increased federal funding for research and awareness when a revered former president, Ronald Reagan, withdrew from public life with Alzheimer’s disease.

One recollection I have is of a poll asking doctors what disease they feared most. Many expected doctors might fear a common killer disease like cancer or possibly a heart attack. The surprising result was that the disease doctors feared most was Alzheimer’s disease, now recognized as the most common cause of dementia. Today, ongoing research has vastly expanded what we know about the aging brain and Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders.

No Magic Bullet Cure

Many wish for a cure. Perhaps a vaccine that might eliminate the risk altogether, or a magic bullet that provides a cure for those who develop Alzheimer’s. Nothing like this exists today.

Vast amounts of federal and industry resources have supported science in search of that “magic bullet”—a pill to prevent or cure Alzheimer’s. One drug has recently been approved and another is expected to be approved soon. These drugs are designed to remove amyloid, a degenerative protein implicated in Alzheimer’s. They are expensive, have serious side effects, and do not actually cure or prevent the disease; rather they modestly slow the rate of decline in carefully selected persons. Some smart alecks say the best way to avoid dementia as we get older is to die young!

Focus on Prevention and Risk Reduction

A smart—not a smart aleck’s—approach to epidemics like dementia is to find ways to prevent and reduce the risk of dementia as we age. Prevention research has focused on finding factors that increase the risk for dementia, especially so-called factors that are potentially reversible or at least modifiable.

The Lancet Commission on Dementia—comprised of international experts—has produced two reports and is about to publish its third. The second report estimates that 35 to 40 percent of the risk for late-onset dementia is accounted for by potentially modifiable risk factors. The keywords here are “potentially modifiable.”

A Glimmer of Hope—The FINGER Study and Trial

Is there a better, smarter way to control this epidemic? Might it be smarter to find ways to reduce risk by discovering ways to make changes based on these “modifiable” factors and see if they actually work? Several mostly international studies designed to reduce dementia risk have been published. One promising study, FINGER, or the Finnish Geriatric Intervention Study to Prevent Cognitive Impairment and Disability, focused on nutritional guidance, exercise, cognitive training, social activity, and management of metabolic and vascular risk.

The dementia research field greeted the modestly beneficial results of the FINGER trial with enthusiasm. So-called mini-FINGER trials were launched in the U.S. and around the world. Earlier research had failed to show the cognitive benefits of efforts from changing potentially modifiable risk factors. FINGER provided a glimmer of convincing evidence supporting this concept.

Targeting Risk Factors for Better Results—SMARRT Study and Trial 

A just published new report sheds more light on the prospect of modifying risk factors to reduce cognitive and dementia risk. The study known as SMARRT, or Systematic Multidomain Alzheimer’s Risk Reduction Trial, was released electronically on Nov. 23, 2023, and published in JAMA Internal Medicine journal in January. As the first personalized intervention, SMARRT focuses on maintaining or improving multiple areas of function. This is done by targeting risk factors based on participants’ risk factor profiles, preferences, and priorities. The research team from Seattle and San Francisco who designed the study believed that a personalized approach was better than the one-size-fits-all approach used in previous research. In a planning survey of 600 older adults in Seattle, we found that most were concerned about Alzheimer’s disease. They wanted to know their personal risk factors and were motivated to make changes to lower dementia risk.

The two-year study of 172 persons, ages 70-89, at elevated risk for dementia found that participants in SMARRT had a modest but statistically significant improvement in cognitive testing of 74 percent compared to the control group. Participants also had improvements in measurements of risk factors (145 percent) and quality of life (8 percent).

The SMARRT program involved participants meeting with a health coach and nurse followed by coaching sessions. Initial visits were in person but due to the pandemic, all sessions were switched to phone. In the sessions, risk factors selected by participants were reviewed. Coaches and participants met once per month. Coaches offered advice and discussed progress toward goal achievement including tracking hypertension with a home blood pressure monitor, walking a certain number of steps each day, signing up for a class, and challenges to achieving goals. In addition to tracking progress participants could add new goals. The most common risk factors that were worked on were physical activity (95.1 percent), hypertension (76.1 percent), sleep (52.4 percent) depressive symptoms (45.1 percent), and social engagement (41.5 percent). The less commonly chosen risk factors (<25 percent) were risky medications, diabetes, and smoking.

Compared to other trials of this type, the beneficial change in cognition, while modest, was greater. I believe the SMARRT results occurred because participants were motivated to try to avoid cognitive decline, were prompted to make personal goal choices, and were able to monitor and share their progress, including, for example, by tracking increased physical activity and monitoring blood pressure.

The SMARRT study results point to the “smart” approach for individuals and those working to reduce the impacts of dementia and cognitive decline in our communities.

As awareness of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia has grown, more people have become motivated to find ways to promote cognitive health. The good news is that improvements in these risk factors also promote general health and well-being. Changes don’t have harmful side effects or the high costs associated with new drugs.

The distinguishing feature—what made the SMARRT study so “smart”—was that participants chose personal targets that resonated with their lives and values. They kept track of their progress, even moving on to other targets. Smart, SMARRT moves!

Eric B. Larson, MD, MPH is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Washington. He was co-Principal Investigator of the SMARRT trial and formerly Vice President for Research and Healthcare Innovation at Group Health and Kaiser-Permanente Washington. With colleagues, he co-founded the long-running Adult Changes in Thought (ACT) study in 1986. He continues research through the UW Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center and other projects. He has participated in The Lancet Commission on Dementia since its inception. With co-author Joan DeClaire he wrote the well-received book, Enlightened Aging: Building Resilience for a Long Active Life.

More 3rd Act Articles on Alzheimer’s and Dementia:

The Latest Science on Beating Alzheimer’s

The Four C’s of Alzheimers

Why We Struggle to Prevent and Treat Dementia

Older Adults with Dementia without Close Family

Older Adults with Dementia

The post The Hard Truth about Dementia appeared first on 3rd Act Magazine.

By DALE BOHM

Why study astrophysics? Simply put, it’s interesting and challenges the brain. Many studies confirm that our brain has the ability to learn and grow as we age—a process called brain plasticity. But for it to do so, we must train and challenge it on a regular basis.

“Eventually, your cognitive skills will wane and thinking and memory will be more challenging, so you need to build up your reserve,” says Dr. John N. Morris, director of social and health policy research at the Harvard-affiliated Institute for Aging Research. “Embracing a new activity that also forces you to think and learn and requires ongoing practice can be one of the best ways to keep the brain healthy.”

Astrophysics is a complicated science. Not only do we learn about massive objects in the universe like stars, galaxies, and black holes, there are tiny quantum particles to study as well. The coolest thing about astrophysics is exploring universal questions: How did our universe start? What happened after the Big Bang? Where is our universe headed? Everything on earth is intimately connected to the sun, moon, and planets in our solar system, not to mention the quantum particles that govern every atom in our bodies.

Over the years, I’ve gained knowledge from books, the internet, and science programs on TV such as PBS Space Time hosted by Matt O’Dowd, and Complex Questions Answered Simply hosted by Arvin Ash. I’ve learned the most from O’Dowd, who has a PhD in Astronomy and Astrophysics from the University of Melbourne and is an Associate Professor in the Physics and Astronomy Department at the Lehman College of the City University of New York.

Here’s a brief overview to get you started. Grab a dictionary or Google, put on your seatbelt, and get ready to learn and challenge your brain!

In the Beginning

When faced with complicated questions, it is always best to break them down into their simplest form. A famous quote by Albert Einstein states, “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” In the beginning, moments after the Big Bang, our universe was very simple. It was a hot soup of fundamental particles and their antiparticles. Neutrinos decoupled one second after the big bang and traveled freely into space, creating the cosmic neutrino background. Scientist are now trying to detect these neutrinos at the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, which is located at the South Pole.

Protons and neutrons formed from the fundamental particles and became hydrogen and helium nuclei. As the universe continued to expand and cool, hydrogen nuclei gained electrons and hydrogen atoms began to pair up, sharing their electron shells with opposite spin electrons.  Much later in time, stars began to form, and our early universe developed black holes from supernova explosions of massive stars. Finally, galaxies formed around the black holes.

Quantum Fields Forever

If you go even smaller than a particle, there are 24 different quantum fields that govern all the properties of our universe. The Standard Model of Particle Physics describes the most basic particles of the universe as six different quarks, six different leptons, and five different bosons,  with each a particle in their own quantum field. One of the bosons called a gluon, carries the strong nuclear force and has a total of eight different quantum fields. One scientific theory, discovered by Italian physicist Gabriele Veneziano back in 1968, is called String Theory. Basically, it states that the fundamental particles of all matter are strings of extremely small scale, which vibrate at specific frequencies within a quantum field. The strings vibrate in different modes (just as a guitar string can produce different notes), with every mode appearing as a different particle in a specific quantum field.

The Ghosts of the Universe

Neutrinos continue to expand from supernova explosions and carry particles on a neutrino “wind” throughout the universe. Neutrinos are tiny particles traveling near the speed of light and are the second most common particle in the universe. A neutrino is similar to the electron except it is electrically neutral. Neutrinos are able to pass through matter almost undisturbed and are created as a result of decay and nuclear reactions. There are three types (or flavors) of neutrinos that oscillate between each type—electron, muon, and tau neutrinos. After a supernova, zillions upon zillions of neutrinos are released and carry heavier particles throughout the universe and make it possible for more complex atoms to form.

Tiny but Mighty

A neutron star is only about 20 kilometers in diameter, however it has way more mass than our sun. Neutron stars result from massive super red giant stars that would dwarf our Sun. After these stars have finished burning their nuclear fuel, they undergo a supernova explosion. This explosion blows off the outer layers of a star and the central region collapses under gravity. It collapses so much that protons and electrons are crushed together and combine to form neutrons. If the neutron star is large enough, it will create a black hole and its light will disappear from the universe forever.

Obey the Laws

Through the study of astrophysics, the laws of nature are revealed. By examining these laws and the particles that make up our universe, we can incorporate that information into our own lives and better understand our own reality.

Physicists Rudolf Clausius and William Thomson developed laws of thermodynamics back in 1860 that are still used today. The first law states that “energy can neither be created nor be destroyed, only transformed from one form to another.”

The second law states that “energy will always go from its highest energy to do work to its lowest ability to do work.”

Sir Isaac Newton developed the laws of motion way back in 1687, his most famous statement being that “for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.”

Continuing Education

There are literally hundreds of books and programs online to learn more about astrophysics. The Hubble Space Telescope and now the new James Webb telescope have provided us with outstanding photographs and are unlocking the secrets of the early universe. CERN’s Large Hadron Collider located in Switzerland is unlocking the mysteries of the particle world, with the discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012. Now more than ever, scientists are learning the secrets of our universe and sharing it freely with all of humanity.

Dale Bohm, advertising representative for 3rd Act Magazine, is a motocross racer, skier, athlete, closet writer, and citizen scientist. He has been curious about the universe his entire life and is a lover of neutrinos. He lives in Bothell, Wash.

Books to Read:

Cosmos by Carl Sagen

Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson

You may also like these articles on 3rd Act:

An Amateur Astronomer’s Guide to Wonder in the Sky

The post This is Your Brain on Astrophysics appeared first on 3rd Act Magazine.

What happens to older adults who do not have close family when they develop dementia? The truth is, we hardly know.

Population aging together with changing patterns of marriage and childrearing mean that growing numbers of people in North America reach advanced ages without a living spouse or children. This matters because the incidence of dementia increases with age, and considerable support and care are needed to live well as the condition progresses. The vast majority of this care is provided by spouses and children.

There is reason to worry that older adults who lack family in these two relationship categories may be vulnerable if they develop dementia. Until now, however, very little research has examined the topic.

Older adults with dementia without close family

I am a medical anthropologist and I research social and cultural dimensions of illness and health care. (I am also the daughter of a mother who lived with dementia for a very long time).

Our team has worked with information collected as part of a long-running medical research study of dementia called the Adult Changes in Thought (ACT) study. Since the early 1990s, this study has been following participants recruited from the membership of an integrated health-delivery organization in Seattle to identify those who develop dementia.

Our team has been examining the research data and administrative documents generated by the ACT study, with an eye to what they can tell us about the circumstances and needs of older adults who were kinless when they developed dementia.

Qualitative analysis of ACT administrative documents, some of which contained clinical chart notes from participants’ medical records, proved to be an especially rich and informative source of data.

Surprising findings

We recently published what we believe is the first article on kinless older adults with dementia, and some of the findings might surprise you:

• This circumstance is not rare. In our sample of community-dwelling older adults, we found that 8.4 percent were kinless at the time they developed dementia. (This is probably a conservative estimate because more would likely become kinless after the onset of dementia, upon the death of a spouse and/or child).

• This is a predicament to which anyone may be susceptible. The life trajectories that led people in our sample to be kinless at the time they developed dementia were quite varied. Some had never married or had children, but others had outlived both spouses and children.

• The average age of the kinless older adults in our sample at the time they developed dementia was 87. Half were living alone at that point, and one-third were living with unrelated persons such as hired caregivers. Most were women who became kinless late in life and unexpectedly.

• A person’s role as caregiver (at the time they developed dementia, or prior to that) could have important consequences for their own ability to access care. For example, some in our sample had previously moved to a residential setting to meet the needs of a spouse, which could mean that they were well situated to access care later. On the other hand, at least one of the 64 kinless older adults with dementia in our sample was serving as caregiver for a roommate (who also had dementia), which triggered an intervention when it led to a situation that was dangerous for both parties.

• Some of the kinless older adults in our sample seemed to have little support, but others received considerable support from relatives such as nieces, nephews, sisters, grandchildren, and others.

• Some received support from neighbors and friends that could in some cases involve quite extensive hands-on care. In many instances, however, neighbors and other community members appeared to have gotten involved only at moments of crisis, as a form of rescue.

This research affords a rare window into the circumstances and needs of a potentially very vulnerable group that up to now has remained largely invisible. Our findings have implications for clinicians and health systems, but also for society more broadly.

“Who cares?” is, on one level, an informational question about caregiving networks—one that our team, through this research, has begun to answer. On another level, however, “who cares?” is a provocation. The predicament of kinless older adults with dementia should provoke all of us to work to better support people facing a form of precarity that anyone may be susceptible to in late life.

Janelle S. Taylor is a professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on social and cultural dimensions of illness and health, and over the years has addressed a range of topics, including reproductive technology and medical education as well as dementia and caregiving.

Credit: Previously Published in The Conversation

Tips for Solo Agers

 For people who are aging solo, this research offers no easy answers, but it does point toward some questions worth considering:

• Would your current living situation make it easy to access help and support, if you should need it in the future? If not, consider looking into available options sooner rather than later.

• Have you ever spoken with your health care providers about your living situation, who is most important in your life, and/or your concerns about your future? Having such information may help them better support and care for you.

• Do you have an active network of social relationships? Neighbors, friends, fellow volunteers, fellow members of clubs or other organizations can all be valuable sources of support.

• Are publicly supported dementia programs available in your area? If not, consider getting involved in efforts to advocate for them.

• Have you thought about what would be your wishes (for medical care or for your finances) if in the future you were unable to articulate them? Have you talked about these matters with people close to you and documented them in ways that can have legal force?

Related stories:

Time to Get Real About Aging in Place—the biggest challenge of aging in place is the profound shortage of people—both family members and paid—to care for us.

Moving Closer to Your Family—Longer term, it will benefit you because at a time you may need help, your family will live closer and know you more deeply.

The post Older Adults with Dementia without Close Family appeared first on 3rd Act Magazine.

Philosopher Immanuel Kant called music “the quickening art,” and the music affects a kind of magical transformation on Henry. His dementia is set aside. A man who wasn’t there in one moment is suddenly very present, very alive, very much a singular being with personality and passion. He had appeared lost to his dementia but was very much alive inside, and music woke him from his mental slumber.

The power of music is evident to anyone who watches the video of Henry. We know that it works but don’t really know why or how it works. How does music perform this magic? Why is it that the arts, in general, possess this transformative power. I’ve been struggling with these questions for close to two decades now.

My early thinking on the subject was influenced by the work of Ellen Dissanayake and Denis Dutton,** who argue that aesthetic sensibilities are evolved instincts possessed by all human beings. The human capacity to make art and appreciate beauty, they believe, have been shaped by natural selection. An aesthetic sensibility is a fundamental characteristic of human behavior. We are hard-wired for art.

As the field of neuroscience blossomed in the 1990s, researchers began exploring the neurological basis for aesthetic experiences, seeking to understand how the human brain processed art and how art, in turn, shapes the nature of individual brains. Neuroscientist Semir Zeki dubbed this new sub-field “neuroaesthetics” in 1999. The evolutionary perspective of art was complemented by a deeper understanding of how the human brain works and why it is so sensitive to artistic expression.

The scientific study of the arts has been robust but disorganized. The NeuroArts Blueprint Initiative, launched in 2019, is striving to wed the disciplines of science, technology, and the arts. Their mission is to “cultivate an ecosystem for neuroarts—the transdisciplinary study of how the arts and aesthetic experiences measurably change the body, brain, and behavior, and how this knowledge is translated into specific practices that advance health and well-being around the world.”

I am delighted that I will be able to contribute to this cultivation of a neuroarts ecosystem. I’ve been invited to serve on a new Health and Science Committee set up by Encore Creativity, the nation’s largest choral singing group for older adults. Encore’s goals are to use our growing understanding about science of the arts to improve the health of their singers and to help them flourish as they age.

With this new assignment, I need to update and expand my thinking about the power of the arts to promote human well-being. Here are some of the points that I find compelling and provocative:

1. The power of the arts derives from basic physics. Art is grounded in sensory stimuli that, at its base, are forms of energy. When energy of any kind enters the brain, it has the power to alter the structure and function of our mind.

Susan Magsamen, co-director of the NeuroArts Blueprint, makes the same point in her new book, Your Brain on Art. She says that “all stimuli that we encounter—visual, auditory, somatosensory, gustatory, olfactory, and others—change the structure and function of cells within our brains and bodies. And they do so in fundamental ways.”

2. We are hard-wired for the arts. We thrive as a species because of our creativity and adaptability. We have used the arts to shape our environments, and the environments we create, in turn, shape our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.

3. The arts engage multiple types of energy that interact holistically with the multiple systems that animate our bodies and brains. The arts, therefore, are particularly effective at addressing complex, multi-faceted disorders and diseases.

4. The arts are fun. We enjoy the arts. Art is play. The arts are intimately linked to positive emotions. This alone contributes to flourishing. But further, the therapeutic benefits embedded in the arts pleasure are easily endured. We are happy to take the medicine on a regular basis because it’s so enjoyable and fulfilling.

5. The arts can inspire wonder and awe, pulling us out of our egocentric self-absorption, and sweeping us into a mystical sense of unity with forces grander than our individual selves.

Taking this fifth point to heart, I suspect we will never fully understand why the arts are such powerful healers. Often, just recognizing that they work is enough. We shouldn’t forgo effective treatments just because we don’t understand how or why they work. How did the voice of Cab Calloway pull Henry out of his dementia?

It’s magic! That may be all the answer we really need.

Michael C. Patterson helped provide funding for Gene Cohen’s Creative Aging research when running AARP’s Staying Sharp brain health program. With Cohen, Patterson started and led the board research committee for the National Center for Creative Aging. Patterson now produces and hosts the MINDRAMP podcast, and publishes a weekly newsletter featuring new research reports that shed light on issues pertaining to successful aging.

Read more by Michael C. Patterson

More Resources:

Listen to Michael’s MINDRAMP podcast interviews with Dan Cohen, the champion of personalized music featured in Alive Inside.

Watch the full Alive Inside documentary at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9IHUPamCB4

** Ellen Dissanayake wrote What is Art For? (1988) and Homo Aestheticus: Where Art Comes from and Why? (1992). Denis Dutton wrote The Art Instinct: Beauty, Pleasure, and Human Evolution (2010).

Read Gene Cohen’s Creative Aging research at https://www.arts.gov/sites/default/files/NEA-Creativity-and-Aging-Cohen-study.pdf.

The post Alive Inside—Our Brains are Hardwired for Art appeared first on 3rd Act Magazine.

Intention is a funny sounding word. In-tenshun. In-TENSION. I find it amusing, and somewhat ironic, that the word “intention”—meaning determination to do something or to act in a certain way—can be heard as “in-TENSION.” This sounding of the word suggests that a certain anxiety is implicit in the concept of living with purpose. That’s ironic!

Does living an intentional life imply a willingness to accept tension, anxiety, and stress into one’s life? One of my goals for my remaining years—an intention—is to focus less on external accomplishments and more on the internal workings of my mind. I feel the need to cultivate a calmer, more accepting state-of-mind that can face whatever the future brings with equanimity.

Will tension be an inevitable part of my quest for calm?

I had been thinking that the presence of tension would be a bad thing, antithetical to what I was trying to achieve. But perhaps this is wrong. It seems likely that tension is an inevitable aspect of life. Some degree of tension, for example, is needed to resist the gradual slide into passivity and inactivity that seem to plague advanced age. I don’t want to fall into self-inflicted ageist attitudes that would shrink my life, so there is a tension to resist those impulses. When the curtains come down, I want to leave the stage with a bang, not a whimper—a peaceful bang.

Rather that resist or deny the tension, a better strategy would be to learn to live with it. Better yet, we should learn how to work with the tension.

A couple of evocative metaphors occurred to me as I pondered the inevitability of tension. I’ve been thinking about the arts—and music in particular—and the image of a plucked guitar string resonated with me (pun intended).

The guitar will produce no music unless there is tension in the strings. A flaccid string won’t vibrate fast enough to produce the required sound waves. Music—organized sound—is produced by purposeful pulsing that creates tension and release of air waves. We produce music by creating tension on vibrating surfaces, and our auditory system feels this tension and converts it into the electrical pulses that our brain interprets as sound. No tension, no music. How can we turn the tension in our lives into music?

There are no stories of interest without tension. A narrative without conflict has no drive, no momentum. A story without tension is boring. It is the constant ebb and flow of tension and release that propels us through a well-crafted narrative. Interest is sustained by the skillful manipulation of expectation (tension) and resolution. Each resolution, of course, creates a new form of tension and the story is swept forward on waves of pulsing tensions.

Tension is akin to stress. Short-term, acute stress is adaptive and highly beneficial. It alerts us to danger and signals when our body and mind have lost homeostatic balance. When the threat passes and balance is restored, the stress is relieved. The tension abates. It is chronic, unrelieved stress that is dangerous and destructive. There is no resolution, no period of respite in the narrative of chronic stress. The same would be true of tension. It is the harmonics of tension and release that produces the music, not a constant drone of constant noise.

The metaphor of wading into a flowing river also occurred to me. The current of the river creates a tension against our body. It pushes us, relentlessly, downstream. If we resist the flow and doggedly try to swim against the current, the tension is magnified. Swimming upstream requires great exertion and is ultimately exhausting. It is so much easier, more pleasant and fulfilling to flow with the flow. The challenge is to navigate within the flow, to use the tension of the current to propel us in direction we want to go.

For the next 15 years or so I will be immersed in the steady flow of life as it inexorably winds its way toward my death. I will inevitably confront the tensions of change. My body continues to present me with new challenges. Rather than simply give in to limitations, I intend to adapt and adjust. I’ll find new ways to keep swimming with the current as best I can.

My mind, hopefully, will remain sharp. But it needs an attitude adjustment. I have for too long exercised only my rational, conceptual mind. I have neglected my intuitive, experiential mind. I should admit that I have neglected my spirituality. I have been swimming upstream, wanting the world to behave as I think it should behave, trying to construct neat explanations for what, ultimately, is unknowable. I intend to spend my remaining years learning to accept and cherish the world as it is, in all its magnificent and alarming mystery.

My intention is to surf the fluctuations of life’s tensions to harmonize more comfortably with the mysteries of existence. What about you?

Michael C. Patterson is an author, teacher and consultant who specializes in promoting successful longevity, living long, and living well. He explores his ideas about the hemispheric gelassenheit on the MIND OVER MUDDLE series of the MINDRAMP podcasts. Learn more about his work with MINDRAMP at www.mindrmap.org.

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I hope to cultivate greater peace of mind as I live out the last few years of my life. Many aspects of our lives spin out of control, but we should, at least, be capable of managing the workings of our minds. I have recently discovered two important concepts that, when merged, provide a mind management strategy for achieving greater clarity and equanimity.

The first concept was initially proposed by the medieval Christian mystic Meister Eckhart, and is captured by his term “Gelassenheit,” which is often translated as “releasement.” The root word is lassen, which means to let something happen, to allow, or to leave something be. Eckhart used the word to describe his mystical approach to Catholic worship, which involved letting go of intellectual and scholarly approaches to finding God. and replace them with direct experience of the divine. He extricated himself from religious doctrine and adoration of written scriptures and opened himself to intuitive experience of the divine. Gelassenheit, more generally, describes the dynamic interplay between a polarity of opposites—a letting go of one thing automatically opens the door to the embrace of something else.

The second strategy is the hemisphere hypothesis, a broad and robust area of inquiry by the scholar and philosopher Iain McGilchrist.* The key point for my purposes is that the two hemispheres of our brain are semi-independent and think in very different ways. When the two hemispheres collaborate under the guidance of the right hemisphere (RH), which sees the big picture of direct experience, our minds operate well. Unfortunately, the left hemisphere (LH), which creates a virtual reality representation of reality, has come to dominate modern civilization. Consequently, we become confused and conflicted because our view of reality is distorted and detached from real experience.

Combining the gelassenheit process with the guidance of the hemisphere hypothesis provides us with a reasonable game plan for cultivating greater peace of mind. I’ll call it the “hemispheric gelassenheit” strategy. In broad terms, the strategy is to release our mind from the virtual reality distortions of the LH, as we open our minds to direct experience of real life as mediated by the RH. How might we put the hemispheric gelassenheit into action?

Fortunately, there are a few simple, straight forward activities that rebalance hemispheric influence in favor of the RH. Aerobic exercise does the trick. When you hike, jog, swim, bike, or engage in any kind of continuous exertion, your LH shuts down so your RH can focus on the body’s interaction with the environment. Experiencing the awe of the natural world also brings RH sensibilities to center stage. Playfulness and creativity, listening to music, dancing all quiet the LH and engage the RH.

Alan Watts, who masterfully brought Eastern wisdom to Western audiences, quipped that, “We need to lose our minds to come to our senses.” We don’t, of course, need to lose our entire mind. The trick to finding peace of mind, or enlightenment, is to quiet the LH chatter and let the RH pay full attention to direct sensual engagement with real experience. Stop living inside our rational brains and return to direct experience of life.

There are also structured disciplines that are designed to practice the hemispheric gelassenheit. Regular meditation practice, for example, trains the mind to let go of LH chatter and to ground ourselves in the direct experience of breathing, or feeling our body, which engages the RH.

Zen koans are training techniques designed to stimulate insight by being inscrutable. To a question such as “What is the meaning of life?” a Zen master might respond with the question, “What is the sound of one hand clapping? or the statement “Wash your rice bowl.” The LH can’t make sense of these koans using logic and literalism and eventually the RH, which is more comfortable with ambiguity, takes over. The RH may then recognize that thinking about the meaning of life is a fruitless endeavor. The meaning of life is found in living life. You are already doing it. This is it!

There also appear to be more dramatic and rapid-fire methods of achieving the hemispheric gelassenheit. I believe, for example, that people who experience a so-called mystical experience are, in fact, suddenly thrust into a new state-of-consiousness, one nearly devoid of LH influence.

Neuroantomist Jill Bolte Taylor, for example, suffered a LH stroke and for eight years lived exclusively through her RH. She says, “my consciousness shifted into a perception that I was at one with the universe. Since that time, I have come to understand how it is that we are capable of having a ‘mystical’ or ‘metaphysical’ experience—relative to our brain anatomy.”

People who have spontaneous mystical experiences consistently report feeling a dissolution of self and a happy merging with some greater and grander conception of existence.

Modern research into psychedelics is now making a mystical experience available to anyone who manages to arrange a guided trip on psilocybin or other psychedelic drugs. Serious researchers are reporting numerous medical and emotional benefits that regularly result from the use of psilocybin. These include the dissolution of self, and a profound sense of meaning and purpose brought about by unity with something larger than ourselves. This sounds like a hemispheric gelassenheit to me. The mystical experience of a psilocybin trip leaves people with a deep sense of calm, with peace of mind.

I am convinced that the hemispheric gelassenheit strategy can help individuals find greater peace of mind. And further, I believe the strategy could help us move society toward greater sanity and peace. The strategy would involve freeing ourselves from destructive LH approaches to political, economic, and social concerns, and replacing them with kinder, more compassionate RH approaches. But this is a topic for another time.

*The hemisphere hypothesis and its myriad implications is expounded by Iain McGilchrist in his two majestic books: The Master & His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World (2009), and The Matter With Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions and the Unmaking of the World (2021). You can learn more about McGilchrist at his website: https://channelmcgilchrist.com/.

Michael C. Patterson is an author, teacher and consultant who specializes in promoting successful longevity, living long, and living well. He explores his ideas about the hemispheric gelassenheit on the MIND OVER MUDDLE series of the MINDRAMP Podcasts. Learn more about Patterson’s work with MINDRAMP at www.mindramp.org.

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We should be closer. Researchers have provided us with the information we need to protect our brains. We understand the risk factors. We know the conditions that protect our brains and build their resilience. Why haven’t we leveraged these positive approaches? Follow the money.

Unfortunately, the successful interventions are socially complex and offer big business little opportunity for profit. The Alzheimer’s industry has chosen to pursue simple solutions that offer the promise of sustainable profits to those who can find and manufacture the “magic pill.” This myopic approach results in unwavering faith in failed approaches and dismissal of viable alternatives that stray from the accepted orthodoxies.

To make matters worse, the pursuit of profit over people corrupts the practice of good science. Neurodegenerative diseases are complex conditions that are not easily solved. In search of the quick dollar, too many are tempted to take shortcuts that lead down the rabbit holes of fraud, corruption, and quackery.

Here are some telling examples:

Fraud!

Recently, the field of Alzheimer’s research was shaken by allegations that an important piece of seminal research was fraudulent. In 2006, an up-and-coming French researcher, Sylvain Lesne, while working at the University of Minnesota, published an influential paper in the prestigious journal NATURE. Lesne reported that he and his colleagues had discovered a subtype of the Beta Amyloid protein (AB*56) that accumulated in clumps and caused dementia in rats.

This was considered a big deal. Lesne’s finding has been described as the “smoking gun” evidence that confirmed the Amyloid hypothesis, which posits that Alzheimer’s is caused by the accumulation of abnormal Beta Amyloid. Unfortunately, Lesne used doctored images to prove the existence of AB*56. The only other researcher who tried to replicate his research found no evidence of the new form of amyloid and subsequent investigation indicate quite clearly that Lesne’s documents were altered. Lesne succumbed to the need to publish positive results to bolster his reputation and attract funding.

Alzheimer’s industry was too eager to accept a result that confirmed their preferred paradigm (the amyloid hypothesis) and failed to catch the fraud in a timely manner.

Corruption!

Recently, the FDA approved the distribution of Aduhelm, the first new Alzheimer’s drug since 2003. Aduhelm is based on the Amyloid hypothesis—get rid of amyloid and you control dementia. But the evidence shows that Aduhelm provides minimal benefit—if any—and has some serious side effects like bleeding in the brain. Despite vigorous opposition from independent experts, the FDA granted its approval. Why?

Pursuit of the Amyloid hypothesis has become an industry that is too big to fail. Billions have been invested. Careers and reputations have been built around the approach. It is too difficult—and too expensive—to admit failure and start over.

Biogen, the maker of Aduhelm, is under investigation by both the FDA and the SEC for corrupt “marketing” of their drug. There are allegations that FDA officers were improperly encouraged to approve the drug despite expert advice to the contrary. The potential for big profits, unfortunately, leads to corrupt practices.

Quackery!

Since people are desperate to ameliorate the negative effects of aging and dementia, charlatans are quick to offer sophisticated versions of well-marketed snake oil. The sale of unregulated supplements is a $40+ billion dollar industry, with brain health supplements making up an estimated 10th of that market.

Prevagen is a supplement made from jellyfish of all things. It claims it can improve memory, support healthy brain function, sharpen the mind, and lead to clearer thinking. Their ads feature sincere older people who are paid by Prevogen to tell stories about how it has helped improve their cognition. There is not a shred of valid evidence that Prevagen provides any of those benefits. The FDA and the New York Attorney General sued the makers of Prevagen over their false claims, but the case has been tied up in court for years. No supplement has been shown to effectively prevent or treat dementia.

Brain problems are called neurodegenerative conditions because they involve the degeneration of brain cells. Brains falter when brain cells stop working properly. And brain cells get damaged and disrupted in myriad different ways, including unhealthy conditions inside our body and unhealthy conditions in the external environments. Until recently, there has been little political interest in cleaning up our environment, although there is clear evidence that things like lead in our drinking water and particulate matter in the air we breathe, are significant risk factors for dementia.

The weight of scientific research has, for quite some time, pointed toward lifestyle and environmental conditions as having a profound impact on the health of our brains. We know what to do to lower the risks and to amplify the protections. Why don’t we all adopt healthy behaviors and work together to clean up the planet that supports us? We don’t adopt healthy lifestyles because change is hard and big business doesn’t make it any easier for us. Large corporations make billions selling processed foods, manufacturing plastics, burning fossil fuels, and profiting from treatment rather than prevention. Politicians are corrupted by funding from big business so fail to legislate the protections that could protect us from inevitable damage to our brains.

So I’m not optimistic that the incidence of dementia will diminish in years to come—unless we can make some dramatic changes to the way we protect our brains and manage our minds.

Michael C. Patterson is the host of the MINDRAMP podcast and has recently launched a new series of podcasts called MIND OVER MUDDLE. Michael ran the Staying Sharp brain health program for AARP, is the CEO of MINDRAMP, and publishes the newsletter, Roadmaps for a Successful Longevity.

The post Why We Struggle to Prevent and Treat Dementia appeared first on 3rd Act Magazine.