Sudoku Could Help Prevent Dementia? Brain Exercises Help Slow Cognitive Decline

With today's medical advances, it's easy to ask for a new prescription to aid whatever problem seems to crop in in our lives. However, when it comes to aging, research shows that brain exercises, not pills, are a better way to address the worsening symptoms of dementia.

Mild cognitive impairment, in which older adults show lapses in memory and other mental functions that can be serious enough to impair daily function, affect about 10 to 20 percent of those over age 70, and every year, about 10 percent of those people will progress to develop dementia, a more serious version of the same problem.

Researchers reviewed 32 randomized controlled trials in which patients were randomly assigned to either an intervention that used drugs to control behavior, herbal remedies, physical activity or mental exercises that included crossword puzzles. The last group was left to live their lives without any changes. By comparing the various methods of treating cognitive decline, the scientists hoped to come up with some ranking of how effective the various interventions were.

There was no strong evidence found that donepezil, a cholinesterase inhibitor designed to help cognitive function, was a good way to treat advancement of the disease. Many studies have long time suggested that many prescription drugs commonly used to treat Alzheimers and Dementia are only minimally effective.

Natural remedies, including the herbal supplement ginkgo, the hormone dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), or vitamin B and omega-3 fatty acids, also had little effect, according to the study.

Worse yet, studies investigating the role of estrogen and testosterone therapy showed that hormone therapies could even increase the risk of cognitive decline.

In the end, researchers note that the most dramatic benefits stemmed from mental exercise in which participants learned through computer-based training programs or performing memory, reasoning and speed-processing exercises.

An analysis of the study is published this month in the Canadian Medical Association Journal .