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A five year study has shown that mental training reduced the normal decline in daily functioning seen in ageing. One common problem with medical research is that it often doesn't actually measure what counts for you and me. Who cares whether some fancy new drug reduces our blood rhubarb levels? We want to know if it make us live longer healthier. Dementia research is even more fraught because there are tests of mental function which don't necessarily translate into extra meaningful brainpower. The thing is though that they're easier to do than measuring everyday functional abilities like shopping, looking for a phone number or understanding a label. But now it's been shown in a trial of several thousand elderly people in reasonable health, that specific ten-session courses in memory, speed of thinking and being able to reason, do improve a person's performance and seem to last. A five year follow up has shown that mental training reduced the normal decline in daily functioning with ageing, although the reasoning training seemed to make the most difference and increased mental speed needed a booster course to maintain its effect. Since dementia medications are still fairly pathetic in their effects, here's a non drug way to prevent decline in people who are still functioning pretty well.
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