Study: Actual, sustained practice–not mere knowledge–is needed to harness neuroplasticity and improve cognition over time

Lifestyle improve­ments may lessen cog­ni­tive decline (Wiley): ” … 19 indi­vid­u­als old­er than 65 years of age who were expe­ri­enc­ing cog­ni­tive decline were ran­dom­ized to a con­trol group or an inter­ven­tion group for 8 weeks. The con­trol group received online infor­ma­tion relat­ed to demen­tia and lifestyle risk fac­tors, Mediter­ranean diet, phys­i­cal activ­i­ty, and cog­ni­tive engagement.…

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Reminder: A brain-friendly lifestyle is the best approach to delay cognitive decline and dementia

_______ What Sci­ence Tells Us About Pre­vent­ing Demen­tia (The Wall Street Jour­nal): “When it comes to bat­tling demen­tia, the unfor­tu­nate news is this: Med­ica­tions have proven inef­fec­tive at cur­ing or stop­ping the dis­ease and its most com­mon form, Alzheimer’s dis­ease. But that isn’t the end of the sto­ry. Accord­ing to a recent wave of scientific…

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Update: 35% of worldwide dementia cases could be prevented by modifying these 9 modifiable risk factors

Time for Sharp­Brains’ July e‑newsletter, fea­tur­ing fas­ci­nat­ing sci­en­tif­ic find­ings, emerg­ing brain health prac­tices and insights…and some fun teasers. New research Let’s start with the key take-aways from a new and very insight­ful evi­dence review which found nine mod­i­fi­able risk fac­tors for demen­tia — account­ing for 35% of all cas­es: — Edu­ca­tion by age 15 (dur­ing ear­ly life) —…

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Report: 35% of worldwide dementia cases could be prevented by modifying these 9 modifiable risk factors

The Lancet Com­mis­sion: One Third of Demen­tia May Be Pre­ventable (Lancet report release): “Today’s find­ings are extreme­ly hope­ful,” said Maria Car­ril­lo, PhD, chief sci­ence offi­cer at the Alzheimer’s Asso­ci­a­tion. “At an indi­vid­ual lev­el, many peo­ple have the poten­tial to reduce their risk of cog­ni­tive decline, and per­haps demen­tia, through sim­ple, health­ful behav­ior changes. At a…

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UK study: Dementia rates significantly lower than forecasted–especially for men–highlighting the protective role of lifestyle and education

Drop in demen­tia rates sug­gests dis­ease can be pre­vent­ed, researchers say (The Guardian): “In the UK, demen­tia has fall­en by a fifth over the past 20 years, pos­si­bly down to lifestyle and edu­ca­tion changes, high­light­ing ben­e­fits of pre­ven­ta­tive action… A team from three British uni­ver­si­ties con­clud­ed that as a result the num­ber of new cases…

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