Start hitting the brain gym at 25 to exercise those nerves, prevent Alzheimer’s

With Alzheimer’s being a part of dementia, around 46,000 people in Bengaluru alone and 6.1 million in India suffer from it, the report states. This number is expected to triple by 2050.

What is Alzheimer’s disease?

Alzheimer’s is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder — something that causes degeneration of the nervous system — that affects people in two stages.

The early onset happens to people in the age group 50-60.

The late onset can usually be seen in people aged 65 and over.

How important is brain health to prevent Alzheimer’s disease?

Dr Venkataramana, the founder of the Brains Hospital in Bengaluru, says brain health is absolutely important in preventing or postponing Alzheimer’s disease. (Supplied)

Dr NK Venkataramana, the founder-chairman and director of the Brains Super Speciality Hospital in Bengaluru, told South First that brain health was absolutely important in preventing or postponing Alzheimer’s disease.

“Fundamentally, the brain should be kept as active as possible in the form of active reading, thinking, interacting, writing, and listening to music,” he said.

“In addition, having an active social interaction is found to be very helpful in preventing the onset of Alzheimer’s disease,” added the doctor.

Identifying MCI is important

Kumar, who has been working on coming up with specially designed app-based games on smartphones, said: “As people age, their muscles and body tend to become weak. The brain also goes through this phase, termed cognitive decline. This is natural and normal. The other end of the spectrum is what is called dementia.”

However, in between this phase, there is something called Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). This can onset even at the age of 25 years, said the doctor.

Such people have a lot more cognitive deficits than healthy normals, but they don’t meet the criteria for dementia.

“It is absolutely important to identify MCI, because 10-15 percent of these people develop dementia in just one year,” explained Kumar.

“Like how we go to the gym and look after our body for physical health, the need to improve cognitive functions in MCI and dementia patients — and even in normal elderly — is very important,” he added.

Cognitive plateau of brain

Kumar also explained that doctors at NIMHANS identify domains that are affected in normal people as they age beyond 45.

“Many people are not aware that cognitive changes in the brain start plateauing at 25 and not 55. Some cognitive functions that are important for planning, abstract reasoning, problem-solving abilities, deciphering information, etc grow only till the age of 25, and begin to see a downward slope after that. What remains is what we call ‘crystallised intelligence’, which is more of acquired skills and mostly knowledge-based abilities,” he said.

“One can even learn languages at the age of 55-70, but abstract reasoning and problem-solving skills will begin to decline. But if we start exercising the brain nerves, we can tweak these brain networks that are involved in basic cognition and improve them, and delay the ageing of the brain,” added Kumar.

DCAP app with games

Kumar and his team at NIMHANS have developed a battery of tests to first identify whether a person who has MCI.

Also, for normal individuals, the cognitive app called DCAP — Digital Cognitive Augmentation Program — helps in the overall exercise of the brain.

The app, developed after trials on normal individuals, those with MCI, and even dementia patients, has shown tremendous progress when used on a daily basis.

“Like a daily gym regime, exercise on this app for a maximum of 30 minutes for five weeks showed a great progression in cognitive abilities. We are giving this app for free at NIMHANS if anyone desires,” Kumar said.

The app is yet to be made available on the Google Play Store. However, there is another — the Rewire your Brain app, on which Kumar has worked as a consultant — available on the Play Store that can help. This, too, is a scientific evidence-based app to exercise the brain nerves.

The exercises here have eight games at eight difficulty levels, and each game is focused on different areas of the brain. Each of these regions of the brain is responsible for the cognitive function of an individual.

Keep calm, eat well, exercise

Meanwhile, Venkataramana explained that it was important to maintain emotional balance in terms of controlling anger.

Maintaining the mood as non-reactive and non-aggressive, and being as happy as possible will prevent or slow down the degeneration of the brain, he said.

“Following a healthy lifestyle, that involves the intake of good nutrition, physical exercise, pranayama, and yoga, will always be complimentary. Most importantly, it is necessary to avoid toxins like smoking, excessive alcohol, a sedentary lifestyle, irregular sleep, and administration of addictive drugs,” he added.

Also, studies have shown that post-Covid-19 complications can trigger Alzheimer’s disease in those above 60 years of age, said the doctor.

“We certainly do not know the mechanism, but it could be direct damage of the brain by the virus, or a result of immune disturbance that happens in the body,” he added.