Health & Wellness
 

Dementia [This is the print version of story http://www.abc.net.au/ra/innovations/stories/s1787371.htm] 19 November 2006 Exercise Your Brain And Stave Off Dementia Contact: Dr. Michael Valenzuela C/- Black Dog Institute, Prince of Wales Hospital, Hospital Road, Randwick, NSW 2031 Website: http://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au Website: http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/s1723462.htm TRANSCRIPT: BLANCH : It's something we've always suspected, keep your mind active and stave off dementia. But science had never been able to prove it, until now. Doctor Michael Valenzuela, from the University of New South Wales, provides the most convincing evidence to date that complex mental activity across people's lives almost halves the incidence of dementia. Here's Jonica Newby's report for ABC TV's science and technology program, Catalyst. DR JONICA NEWBY : Doctor Michael Valenzuela has solved one of the great puzzles of medical science. Not only has he proven mental exercise will reduce your risk of dementia, in a brilliant series of research moves he's actually discovered how. It's all to do with what's known as brain reserve. That's what our brains build up over a lifetime of mental exercise. It seems like common sense, keep the mind active and stave off dementia. But surprisingly, science had never been able to prove it. So Michael decided to do a metanalysis of 29,000 individuals and discovered elderly people with high brain reserve are 46 per cent less likely to develop dementia. DR MICHAEL VALENZUELA : I was expecting an effect, but not as profound as that. It was very exciting result and I think confirming that common wisdom that you either use it or you will lose it. DR JONICA NEWBY : But it raised a vital question. How do you know if you've developed enough brain reserve to be protected? Michael's next move was to develop the Lifetime of Experiences Questionnaire, a survey designed to assess the level of mental activity over a life span. Well, although I'm only approaching middle age, I want to make sure I'm on the right track. So here goes. Yes. How many years of High School did you complete? 12. But before I discover my results, what is the right track? Through his survey, Michael wanted to know what it took to prevent dementia. Hypothetical person A speaks several languages, completed his third degree in his 70s, is a voracious reader and plays a musical instrument. He has a high brain reserve. Hypothetical person B left school when he was 14 and entered semi-skilled work. That wouldn't be a problem except he never exercised his brain in other ways. When Michael compared mental decline in these two groups over three years, the difference was striking. DR MICHAEL VALENZUELA : High mental activity score people, what we found was about five per cent decrease in their overall cognitive abilities, whereas people with low mental activities decreased by four times that amount, around 20 per cent, quite a distinct difference in their level of decline in their mental abilities. DR JONICA NEWBY : But, if you think you're leaning toward the lower end of the scale, don't despair. According to Michael's next study, it's never too late to repel dementia's advance. DR MICHAEL VALENZUELA : What I'm going to explain now is five landmarks from a hypothetical route around Sydney Harbour. So we start at Sydney Opera House. DR JONICA NEWBY : Michael trained a group of over 65s in memory exercises for five weeks. DR MICHAEL VALENZUELA : So, can you just repeat those five landmarks for me in order again? MALE : Sydney Opera House. DR JONICA NEWBY : He then analysed the memory centre of their brains, the hippocampus. To his amazement, a biochemical boost was taking place. DR MICHAEL VALENZUELA : As we can see, in the memory exercise group, we had 75 per cent of that group showed a significant increase in their creatine levels, versus 25 per cent in the control group. DR JONICA NEWBY : That's a huge difference! DR MICHAEL VALENZUELA : Yeah, it is a big difference. DR JONICA NEWBY : Creatine is a known neuro-protector in the brain. That means, the training group were actually producing a compound that protects their brain cells from dementia. This had never been found before. But Michael didn't stop there. He delved deeper, and found something even more startling. DR MICHAEL VALENZUELA : Okay gentleman what we're looking at here are the brain scans from two individuals, from your age group, these are people over the age of 60, 65 years of age. And one part of the brain I'd like you to focus on is just here. It's called the hippocampus. And what you may find interesting is that this individual led a very mentally active life, and this individual was really the opposite. You see a lot of this black area around it. So what it means is that hippocampus in this individual has shrunken a lot. DR JONICA NEWBY : So you're actually saying that a lifetime of mental activity has increased the size of this brain structure of the hippocampus? DR MICHAEL VALENZUELA : That's the connection that we've found is that mental activity and the volume of this brain structure are directly related. JIM STEEL : So it's a question of use it or lose it? DR MICHAEL VALENZUELA : I think that's a great phrase, and one that many people have used. DR JONICA NEWBY : But what about my test results? Am I building up enough brain reserve? DR MICHAEL VALENZUELA : Well, Jonica what we have in front of us here is a graph showing the distribution of scores from the LEQ, from an older population. Now what you've achieved, was a score of 344, which puts you just above the average. DR JONICA NEWBY : So, I'm just in the middle. Gee, I was hoping I would be higher. So does that mean that I'm actually protected, or am I heading for dementia? DR MICHAEL VALENZUELA : Given that you scored in the middle of the range, I think that it shows that you are not particularly at risk and you're not particularly protected from developing dementia. DR JONICA NEWBY : Better take up chess. DR JONICA NEWBY : So, it's official. We should all be thinking one move ahead using every tactic we can to prevent dementia. DR MICHAEL VALENZUELA : It's a terrible disease a nasty illness and therefore the reason why I want to try and make a difference. BLANCH : For his work, Dr Michael Valenzuela was awarded this year a prestigious Eureka Prize for Medical Research.