Neurology

Light Exercise Helps Older Men Live Longer

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Read the source article at this link.

The researchers report that any amount of physical activity, including light exercise, was linked to a lower risk of dying.

Also, each extra 30 minutes a day of light intensity activity, such as gentle gardening or taking the dog for a walk, was associated with a 17% reduction in the risk of dying.

Aerobic exercise may also slow cognitive decline  in Alzheimer’s according to a recent  literature review.

“Exercise can change the brain chemistry. It can change neurotransmitters associated with depression, anxiety and stress as well as brain chemicals associated with learning,” said Carol Ewing Garber, Director of the Applied Physiology Lab at Columbia University, Teachers College, in New York City, who wasn’t involved in the study. “These changes can result in improved mood, resilience to stress and improve functions of the brain such as processing speed, attention, short term memory and cognitive flexibility among other things.”

 

Anosognosia

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Remember this – if you can’t remember you’ve forgotten you have a problem.

Source article here. 

And while we’re on the topic don’t forget to exercise.

Or did you forget?

A follow up two years later showed that patients who were unaware of their memory problems were more likely to have developed dementia, even when taking into account other factors like genetic risk, age, gender and education. The increased progression to dementia was mirrored by increased brain metabolic dysfunction in regions vulnerable to Alzheimer’s disease.

Brain imaging reveals ADHD as a collection of different disorders

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The study, published in Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, has the potential to radically reframe how researchers think about ADHD. “This study found evidence that clearly supports the idea that ADHD-diagnosed adolescents are not all the same neurobiologically,” said first author Dr. Michael Stevens, of the Olin Neuropsychiatry Research Center, Hartford, CT, and Yale University. Rather than a single disorder with small variations, the findings suggest that the diagnosis instead encompasses a “constellation” of different types of ADHD in which the brain functions in completely different ways.

Click here for the full article.

Alternative Dementia Screening Tests | Physician’s Weekly

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Alternative Dementia Screening Tests | News Brief

October 7, 2015
  

Chinese investigators suggest that there are multiples alternatives to the Mini-Mental State Examination that have comparable diagnostic capabilities for detecting dementia. The Mini-Cog test and the Addenbrooke’s Cognitive Examination-Revised were deemed the most effective alternative screening tests for dementia. The Montreal Cognitive Assessment was determined to be the optimal alternative for detecting mild cognitive impairment.

Source: JAMA Internal Medicine, September 2015.

Source: Alternative Dementia Screening Tests | Physician’s Weekly