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20 Av 5765 - August 25, 2005 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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Home and Family

Mental Aerobics!
by Dr. Reuven Bruner, Ph.D.

The search for ways to prevent or cure Alzheimer's disease proceeds, but without much results. A gene for the disorder has been identified. The form of Alzheimer's caused by this gene, however, is not the form most people get. Most people don't get Alzheimer's or any other dementia (B"H), though the risk does rise significantly with age, especially after 80. Some ways for preventing Alzheimer's: Regular exercise, consuming Vitamin B6, B12, and folic acid, lowering your blood pressure and blood cholesterol if they're elevated, and eating a healthy diet. None of this is a sure thing, but they're all good ideas anyway, and they may help prevent mental decline (be"H).

But there is another kind of exercise, the cognitive kind. A recent, well-designed study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that people over 75 who took part in leisure activities such as reading, playing board games or a musical instrument, writing, doing crossword puzzles, or taking part in group discussions were less likely to develop Alzheimer's. There are other studies also, indicating that rich social networks and active leisure (mental and physical) may forestall Alzheimer's and other forms of mental decline.

How could this be? According to an essay by Professor J. Coyle accompanying the study, one theory is that your mental reserves and resources will help protect your brain if you use them. Or perhaps mental activities requiring concentration and effort -- like learning Torah -- actually keep the brain supple in some way.

Studies of this kind can't prove cause and effect; they can only identify associations and risk factors. It could be that being mentally active is a sign of ongoing mental health, rather than a cause of it. And not taking part in mental exertion may be an early, subtle symptom of Alzheimer's.

We hope that the study will prove out, and that exercising the brain does turn out to help keep it intact. But even if it doesn't reduce the risk of Alzheimer's, you'll benefit in other ways.

So enjoy life by learning Torah. Attend a shiur, learn with a chavrusa, learn with you children and grandchildren. This is LIFE!

(c) 2005 Dr. Reuven Bruner. All Rights Reserved.

For more information contact him at: POB 1903, Jerusalem, 91314, Israel; Tel: (02) 652-7684; Mobile: 052 2865-821; Fax: (02) 652-7227; Email: dr_bruner@hotmail.com

 

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