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Brain health council works to separate fact from fiction

Cape Cod Times - 11/18/2019

Nov. 18--AUSTIN, Texas -- For many aging Americans, the fear of developing incurable Alzheimer's and related dementias has sent them on a personal quest to prevent brain disease.

They buy supplements, purchase video games marketed as improving mental power and scour cookbooks looking for brain-healthy recipes.

But what people may be hard-pressed to find is concrete evidence that these interventions work.

Sarah Lenz Lock, senior vice president for policy for AARP, said her organization is trying to make it easier for people to find the best scientific and evidence-based practices with the creation four years ago of the Global Council on Brain Health.

Launched in collaboration with Aging UK, the council strives to translate brain health science for the general population, Lock said.

AARP regularly surveys members on issues of concern, and "the ability to stay sharp as they age" has bubbled to the top, said Lock, who is also the counsel's executive director.

The council looks at the weight of medical evidence and not just the latest study, Lock said during a press briefing Thursday at the Gerontological Society of America's annual conference at the Austin Convention Center.

Other reports look at the impact of mental well-being on brain health, eating right for heart and brain health and cognitively stimulating activities and myths.

The council also has written about what research shows about brain health in relation to physical activity and sleep. The counsel also includes recommendations for exercise and achieving better sleep in its reports.

A healthy diet, exercise and sleep are the best bets for reducing the overall risk of brain decline, although none of them can prevent individual cases of dementia or Alzheimer's, Lock said.

Eating a heart-healthy diet is also brain healthy, said Molly Perdue, co-founder of the Alzheimer's Family Support Center of Cape Cod in Brewster.

"Diabetes is a risk factor for dementia," Perdue said.

For several years, Perdue has offered one-session workshops on cognitive health in senior centers across the Cape, including one at 1 p.m. Monday at the Brewster Senior Center, in addition to free counseling and support groups for people with Alzheimer's and their caregivers. Monday's session is open to the public.

"Right now there's no cure," Perdue said. "We don't understand exactly how it begins."

But in many ways the very lack of answers about the disease process has caused people to focus on cognitive health and what they can do to reduce their risk factors, she said.

With vascular dementia, cardiovascular issues are a known risk factor, so it behooves people to do what they can to improve their heart health, Perdue said.

"We talk a lot about exercise," said Perdue, who had just returned from a 4-mile run at the time of the telephone interview. "Exercise is crucial."

Exercise includes dancing and other fun activities, Perdue said.

"You can really see how sedentary many, many people are" after age 65, she said. "There's a lot of things people can do to move."

Social connection also is important, as is avoiding head trauma across the life span, said Perdue, who has a doctorate in social sciences.

"Definitely, people are concerned," Perdue said. "We say to folks, until there's a cure, there's a lot we can do" to reduce lifestyle risk factors.

Lock said "constantly challenging yourself to learn new things" is important.

"It's very important to engage your brain," she said.

People don't have to pay a lot of money for video games, Lock added. Instead, they just need to find cognitively stimulating activities, such as learning a new language.

Future reports by the council will study the impact of music on brain health, the role that vascular disease plays in cognitive decline and how to prevent delirium in older people who undergo surgery, Lock said.

"We cannot wait for a cure for dementia," Lock said. "If you can delay dementia for five years, you can cut the incidence in half."

More information on the AARP'sGlobal Council on Brain Health is available online at: aarp.org/health/brain-health/global-council-on-brain-health/

-- Follow Cynthia McCormick on Twitter: @Cmccormickcct.

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