Use 'em or lose 'em?

The Plain Dealer: Brain exercise aids elderly, study shows Brief sessions of brain exercise can have long-lasting benefits for elderly people, helping them stay mentally fit for at least five years, one of the most rigorous tests of the "use-it-or-lose-it" theory suggests.

For people age 73 on average, just 10 sessions - less time than it takes to stay physically fit - helped keep their brains sharp.

The brain training involved hour-long classes and included exercises on a computer. While it is uncertain if similar results would occur with mental exercise at home, other research has shown that intellectual tasks such as crossword puzzles and reading can help keep the brain sharp as people grow old.

The study is "the toughest test of these hypotheses to date," said Jeff Elias, chief of cognitive aging at the behavioral science research branch of the National Institute on Aging, which helped pay for the $15 million study.

The study appears in today's Journal of the American Medical Association (jama.ama-assn.org). It was led by Sherry Willis, a human-development professor at Penn State University.

Nearly 3,000 men and women in six cities - Baltimore; Birmingham, Ala.; Boston; Detroit; Indianapolis; and State College, Pa. - participated in the study. Most were white; about one-fifth black.

They were randomly assigned to six-week training sessions in either memory, reasoning or speedy mental processing, and were tested before and after. A comparison group received no training but also was tested.

The memory training included organizing a 15-item grocery list into categories.

The reasoning training taught participants how to see patterns in everyday tasks such as bus schedules and taking medicines.

The speed training had participants quickly identify flashing objects on a computer screen.

Nearly 90 percent of the speed training group, 74 percent of the reasoning group and 26 percent of the memory group showed almost immediate improvements in scores on tests of the mental functions they were trained in. The improvements in most cases lasted throughout the five years of the study and were most notable in the 700 people who got refresher sessions.

The comparison group participants also showed some improvement, perhaps just from the stimulation of being tested, but it was not as great.