Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive brain disease which is the leading cause
of dementia worldwide. Currently available, Food and Drug Administration-approved
therapies for AD provide symptomatic benefits for some but are neither preventative
nor disease-modifying. Once a clinician makes a clinical diagnosis of AD in an older
adult, adult children often want to know what can be done nonpharmacologically to
slow cognitive decline. They also want to know what they can do to delay onset or
decrease their risk of AD. Although genetic vulnerability plays a role even in late-onset
or sporadic AD, there is evidence that certain life-style modification techniques
may slow progression of cognitive decline in AD patients and may delay or decrease
risk of AD in family members. The strongest evidence for efficacy exists for physical
activity (exercise) and brain activity. Relative to the latter, it is postulated that
by stimulating the brain throughout life, we can slow cognitive decline and possibly
delay/decrease risk of AD.
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to Journal of the American Medical Directors AssociationAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- Mental and physical activities delay cognitive decline in older persons with dementia.Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2014; 22: 63-74
- The Mental Activity and eXercise (MAX) trial: A randomized controlled trial to enhance cognitive function in older adults.JAMA Intern Med. 2013; 173: 797-804
- A review of multidomain interventions to support healthy cognitive ageing.J Nutr Health Aging. 2013; 17: 252-257
- Brain reserve hypothesis in dementia.J Alzheimer Dis. 2007; 12: 11-22
- Mental, physical and social components in leisure activities equally contribute to decrease dementia risk.Dement Geriatr Cogn Disord. 2006; 21: 65-73
- The effects of cognitive activity combined with active extremity exercise on balance, walking activity, memory level and quality of life of an older adult sample with dementia.J Phys Ther Sci. 2013; 25: 1601-1604
- Can cognitive exercise prevent the onset of dementia? Systematic review of randomized clinical trials with longitudinal follow-up.Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2009; 17: 179-187
- Cognitive exercise and its role in cognitive function in older adults.Curr Psychiatry Rep. 2010; 12: 20-27
- Brain reserve and the prevention of dementia.Curr Opin Psychiatry. 2008; 21: 296-302
- An active lifestyle postpones dementia onset by more than one year in very old adults.J Alzheimer Dis. 2012; 31: 835-842
- Participation in cognitively stimulating activities and risk of incident Alzheimer disease.JAMA. 2002; 287: 742-748
- Complex mental activity and the aging brain: Molecular, cellular and cortical network mechanisms.Brain Res Rev. 2007; 56: 198-213
- Lifespan mental activity predicts diminished rate of hippocampal atrophy.PLoS ONE. 2008; 3: e2598
- Association of lifetime cognitive engagement and low β-amyloid deposition.Arch Neurol. 2012; 69: 623-629
- Cognitive leisure activities and their role in preventing dementia: A systematic review.Int J Evid Based Health. 2010; 8: 2-17
- [Efficacy of cognitive training programs based on new software technologies in patients with Alzheimer-type dementia].Psicothema. 2011; 23: 44-50
Article info
Publication history
Published online: June 07, 2014
Footnotes
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Identification
Copyright
© 2014 AMDA – The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
