Older people with faster decline in memory, thinking skills may have lower risk of cancer death

"Studies have shown that people with Alzheimer's disease are less likely to develop cancer, but we don't know the reason for that link," said study author Julin Benito-Len, MD, PhD, of University Hospital 12 of October in Madrid, Spain. "One possibility is that cancer is underdiagnosed in people with dementia, possibly because they are less likely to mention their symptoms or caregivers and doctors are focused on the problems caused by dementia. The current study helps us discount that theory."

The study involved 2,627 people age 65 and older in Spain who did not have dementia at the start of the study. They took tests of memory and thinking skills at the start of the study and again three years later, and were followed for an average of almost 13 years. The participants were divided into three groups: those whose scores on the thinking tests were declining the fastest, those whose scores improved on the tests, and those in the middle.

During the study, 1,003 of the participants died, including 339 deaths, or 34 percent, among those with the fastest decline in thinking skills and 664 deaths, or 66 percent, among those in the other two groups. A total of 21 percent of those in the group with the fastest decline died of cancer, according to their death certificates, compared to 29 percent of those in the other two groups.

People in the fastest declining group were still 30 percent less likely to die of cancer when the results were adjusted to control for factors such as smoking, diabetes and heart disease, among others.

"We need to understand better the relationship between a disease that causes abnormal cell death and one that causes abnormal cell growth," Benito-Len said. "With the increasing number of people with both dementia and cancer, understanding this association could help us better understand and treat both diseases."

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Regular exercise changes the brain to improve memory, thinking skills

There are plenty of good reasons to be physically active. Big ones include reducing the odds of developing heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. Maybe you want to lose weight, lower your blood pressure, prevent depression, or just look better. Here’s another one, which especially applies to those of us (including me) experiencing the brain fog that comes with age: exercise changes the brain in ways that protect memory and thinking skills.

In a study done at the University of British Columbia, researchers found that regular aerobic exercise, the kind that gets your heart and your sweat glands pumping, appears to boost the size of the hippocampus, the brain area involved in verbal memory and learning. Resistance training, balance and muscle toning exercises did not have the same results. The results were published this week in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

The finding comes at a critical time. Researchers say one new case of dementia is detected every four seconds globally. They estimate that by the year 2050, more than 115 million people will have dementia worldwide.

Exercise and the brain

As I write in the May 2014 Harvard Health Letter, exercise helps memory and thinking through both direct and indirect means. The benefits of exercise come directly from its ability to reduce insulin resistance, reduce inflammation, and stimulate the release of growth factors—chemicals in the brain that affect the health of brain cells, the growth of new blood vessels in the brain, and even the abundance and survival of new brain cells.

Indirectly, exercise improves mood and sleep, and reduces stress and anxiety. Problems in these areas frequently cause or contribute to cognitive impairment.

Many studies have suggested that the parts of the brain that control thinking and memory (the prefrontal cortex and medial temporal cortex) have greater volume in people who exercise versus people who don’t. “Even more exciting is the finding that engaging in a program of regular exercise of moderate intensity over six months or a year is associated with an increase in the volume of selected brain regions,” says Dr. Scott McGinnis, a neurologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and an instructor in neurology at Harvard Medical School.

Put it to the test

So what should you do? Start exercising! We don’t know exactly which exercise is best. Almost all of the research has looked at walking, including the latest study. “It’s likely that other forms of aerobic exercise that get your heart pumping might yield similar benefits,” says Dr. McGinnis.

How much exercise is required? The study participants walked briskly for one hour, twice a week. That’s 120 minutes of moderate intensity exercise a week. Standard recommendations advise half an hour of moderate physical activity most days of the week, or 150 minutes a week. If that seems daunting, start with a few minutes a day, and increase the amount you exercise by five or 10 minutes every week until you reach your goal.

If you don’t want to walk, consider other moderate-intensity exercises, such as swimming, stair climbing, tennis, squash, or dancing. Don’t forget that household activities can count as well, such as intense floor mopping, raking leaves, or anything that gets your heart pumping so much that you break out in a light sweat.

Don’t have the discipline to do it on your own? Try any or all of these ideas:

• Join a class or work out with a friend who’ll hold you accountable.
• Track your progress, which encourages you to reach a goal.
• If you’re able, hire a personal trainer. (Paying an expert is good motivation.)

Whatever exercise and motivators you choose, commit to establishing exercise as a habit, almost like taking a prescription medication. After all, they say that exercise is medicine, and that can go on the top of anyone’s list of reasons to work out.

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Executed, heart-circulatory activity in young adulthood can keep thinking skills in the middle ages

Keep young adults who are running or other cardio-fitness activities can participate in their memory and thinking skills in middle age, according to a new study published in the April 2, 2014, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Middle Ages was defined as age 43 to 55.

"Many studies show the benefits to the brain or the good health of the heart," said study author David r. Jacobs, Jr., PhD, with the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. "This is an important study that health benefits of cardio-fitness activities like swimming, cycling or cardio-fitness courses run, should remind young adult brain."

Cardio fitness is a measure of how well your body exercise transports oxygen to your muscles, and how well your muscles while absorb the oxygen.

For the study, 2,747 healthy people with an average age of 25 treadmill were tests in the first year of the study and then again 20 years later. Cognitive tests 25 years after the beginning of the study tasks measured psychomotor speed (the relationship between thinking skills and physical activity), verbal memory and executive function.

Had the treadmill test, which corresponded to a heart cardiovascular stress test, participants walked or ran as the speed and slope increases, until she could be discontinued, or symptoms such as shortness of breath. Participants at the first trial lasted an average of 10 minutes on the treadmill. Twenty years later, the number of an average 2.9 minutes decreased. For each additional minute people on the treadmill at the first test completed reminded 0.12 more words right on the memory test or 15 words and correctly replaced 0.92 more numbers with meaningless symbols in the test or psychomotor speed 25 years later also adjusted for other factors such as smoking, diabetes and high cholesterol.

People who had smaller declines in their time on the treadmill test 20 years later concluded were rather reduced on the exam as more powerful had larger executive function. In particular they could state more properly printing ink (written in green ink, the correct answer was for the word "yellow", "green").

"These changes were significant, and while they may be modest, they were greater than the effect of one year of aging," Jacobs said. "Other studies in older patients have shown that these tests to develop among the strongest predictors of dementia in the future." "One study showed that each additional word reminded the memory test with an 18 - percent decrease in the risk of developing dementia after 10 years."

"These results are likely to help us identify and therefore used to prevent or treat high risk of developing dementia", said Jacobs.

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