A Review of What Can Be Done Today About Brain Aging
Little can be done today to stem the tide of age-related degeneration, at least in comparison to the potential rejuvenation treatments of tomorrow. It remains the case that regular moderate exercise and calorie restriction have more solid, proven effectiveness over the long term than any available treatment or enhancement technologies for basically healthy people. Hence you find them right at the top of this open access review on the subject of present methods used to somewhat slow age-related cognitive decline. To see any greater impact than this, we will need new and more effective medical technologies that treat the root causes of aging, and the sooner these treatments are developed the better:
Brain aging and aging-related neurodegenerative disorders are major health challenges faced by modern societies. Brain aging is associated with cognitive and functional decline and represents the favourable background for the onset and development of dementia. Brain aging is associated with early and subtle anatomo-functional physiological changes that often precede the appearance of clinical signs of cognitive decline. Neuroimaging approaches unveiled the functional correlates of these alterations and helped in the identification of therapeutic targets that can be potentially useful in counteracting age-dependent cognitive decline.Advancements in fluorescent microscopy, molecular biology, and electrophysiological techniques have helped to unravel many molecular determinants of neuronal plasticity. These technical advancements, along with the notion that the aging brain retains the capacity to reorganize its morphological and functional architecture, have promoted strong interest and leaps forward in the knowledge of the physiology of the aging brain and aging-related cognitive processes as well as in the exploration of strategies aimed at enhancing or maintaining cognitive skills in the elderly.
A growing body of evidence supports the notion that cognitive stimulation and aerobic training can preserve and enhance operational skills in elderly individuals as well as reduce the incidence of dementia. This review aims at providing an extensive and critical overview of the most recent data that support the efficacy of non-pharmacological and pharmacological interventions aimed at enhancing cognition and brain plasticity in healthy elderly individuals as well as delaying the cognitive decline associated with dementia.
Hmmm, sometimes I read a review like this and imagine a future 25 or 75 years from now where people look back on how things were and just can't imagine living with the depredations that we currently endure. Much like when we look back to the start of the 20th century and see that countless people died of consumption (tuberculosis).
Exercise to try and help dementia really is a bit pathetic in some ways.
I just wish they would speed up medical discoveries and implementions of those discoveries. It just seems to me that we move too slow. Ray K quoted that we are at the knee of the curve and things will speed up.
Well, I am still waiting impatiently:) I sure hope he is right.
There's a few neurodegenerative drugs that work off the premise of removing misfolded proteins. Some of them are quite near to the clinic such as TauRX, Prothena and Ely Lilly.
@Robert: don't just wait: help speed things up !