Ballroom dancing can reduce aging-related brain atrophy in the hippocampus (and, more than treadmill walking!)

Social ball­room danc­ing can improve cog­ni­tive func­tions and reduce brain atro­phy in old­er adults who are at increased risk for Alzheimer’s dis­ease and oth­er forms of demen­tia. That’s the key find­ing of my team’s recent­ly pub­lished study in the Jour­nal of Aging and Phys­i­cal Activ­i­ty. In our study, we enrolled 25 adults over 65 years…

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Study: A combined cognitive-physical training approach may enhance both mind and body as we age

A com­bined cog­ni­tive and fit­ness train­ing helps restore old­er adults’ atten­tion abil­i­ties to young adult lev­els (Psy­Post): A new study found promis­ing results for a com­bined phys­i­cal fit­ness and cog­ni­tive inter­ven­tion designed to enhance neu­ro­plas­tic­i­ty in old­er adults. Using a motion-cap­­ture video game, the inter­ven­tion appeared to reme­di­ate age-relat­ed declines in atten­tion. The find­ings were…

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Study: Building muscle mass helps delay cognitive decline beyond the value of exercise itself

A new rea­son to build mus­cle: brain health (The Globe and Mail): … a recent study from researchers at McGill Uni­ver­si­ty, pub­lished in the jour­nal JAMA Net­work Open, offers a new rea­son for con­tin­u­ing to work on build­ing mus­cle: It’s good for your brain, not just your biceps. Greater mus­cle mass, the results sug­gest, helps ward…

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Anticholinergic drugs found to significantly increase risk of cognitive decline, especially among those with Alzheimer’s Disease biomarkers or genetic predisposition

Com­mon Class of Drugs Linked to Increased Risk of Alzheimer’s Dis­ease (UC San Diego release): A team of sci­en­tists, led by researchers at Uni­ver­si­ty of Cal­i­for­nia San Diego School of Med­i­cine, report that a class of drugs used for a broad array of con­di­tions, from aller­gies and colds to hyper­ten­sion and uri­nary incon­ti­nence, may be…

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Large study finds that placebo works as well as vitamin D supplements to prevent depression and improve mood

Large Study Con­firms Vit­a­min D Does Not Reduce Risk of Depres­sion in Adults (Mass Gen­er­al press release): Vit­a­min D sup­ple­men­ta­tion does not pro­tect against depres­sion in mid­­dle-age or old­er adult­hood accord­ing results from one of the largest ever stud­ies of its kind … “There was no sig­nif­i­cant ben­e­fit from the sup­ple­ment for this pur­pose. It…

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Study: Hearing aids may help older adults delay dementia, depression, anxiety, and falls

___ Hear­ing Aids Linked to Low­er Risk of Demen­tia, Depres­sion and Falls, Study Finds (Michi­gan Health Lab): “Old­er adults who get a hear­ing aid for a new­ly diag­nosed hear­ing loss have a low­er risk of being diag­nosed with demen­tia, depres­sion or anx­i­ety in the fol­low­ing three years, and a low­er risk of suf­fer­ing fall-relat­ed injuries,…

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