Keep your brain active to prevent Alzheimer's

• At a recent conference on the prevention of Alzheimer's disease, several new and exciting research findings offered hope for patients and their families.
• Of course, the obvious finding that I have touted for years is to use your brain or lose it, and there seems to be some support for it.
• The new label that researchers are using is "cognitive reserve."
• Scientists have concluded that the brain can continue to grow new neurons throughout life.
• The more you work your brain to grow the neurons, the greater your cognitive reserve.
• As I have advocated in the past, you need to try new mental activities like playing bridge or learning a new language.
• Taking courses at a college or university can offer a challenge.
• It is important that you engage in some mental challenge on a daily basis.
• Another series of studies from the conference suggests that you need to be socially active if you want to reduce your risk of Alzheimer's disease.
• If you are socially isolated, you have less opportunity for mental stimulation.
• As we age, we lose family and friends who provided our social environment.
• Seek out opportunities to socialize through activities like book groups or even game nights where you participate in mentally stimulating games.
• We already knew of links between physical inactivity and chronic conditions like heart disease and diabetes.
• These affect memory and can lead to dementia.
• One study found that those who were physically and mentally inactive were more than three times as likely to get Alzheimer's disease as they age.
• Researchers in Sweden found that those individuals who were obese were more than twice as likely to get Alzheimer's disease.
• There were a series of studies that discussed diet.