The best brain game against Alzheimer's disease could be your job: Strokes

As a specialist in the prevention of Alzheimer's disease, Jessica Langbaum knows that exercising her mental muscles can help her brain stay sharp.

But Langbaum, who holds a doctorate in psychiatric epidemiology, does not have an official mental fitness program. She does not make crosswords or brain games about the computer.

"Sitting and doing Sudoku probably will not be the only thing that will stop you from developing Alzheimer's disease," she says.

Instead of using a formal brain training program, she just gets to work.

"My job is my daily cognitive training," said Langbaum, associate director of the Alzheimer's Disease Prevention Initiative at Banner Alzheimer's Institute in Phoenix.

And that's true of most workers. "While you're still in the job market, you face the daily challenge of multitasking, remembering, and processing information," she says.

Langbaum offers this perspective as a person who has spent years studying the effects of brain training programs and has taken a close look at Alzheimer's disease.

"My grandfather was diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment while I was preparing my PhD when I was at graduate school," she says. "That turned into Alzheimer's dementia in its own right."

So Langbaum began to ask himself a question: "How can I, during my career, help to ensure that we do not suffer from the disease when we reach that age?"

And she quickly realized that puzzles and games were not the answer, as they tended to focus on a very narrow task. The result is like exercising a single muscle in your body, says Langbaum. This muscle will become stronger, but your overall fitness will not change.

The brain training programs used in research studies are more promising and much more demanding. "They are tough," says Langbaum, who tested them herself while she was participating in an innovative study on the effects of brain training.

In the study of about 2,800 people aged 65 and over, most spent more than five weeks doing exercises that tested memory, reasoning or speed. Two of the interventions, reasoning and speed of treatment, were helpful a little more than 10 years later, says Langbaum.

"They delay the onset of cognitive impairment," she says. "They keep your brain at the same level longer, compared to people who have not received those same cognitive training interventions."

But it is still unclear whether brain training can also prevent or delay Alzheimer's disease. And more recent research suggests that social interaction could be a better form of mental exercise than brain training.

"People who have a lot of social interactions, especially in mid-life, have a lower risk of Alzheimer's dementia at a later age," Langbaum said. "There is something about being surrounded by people that is helpful for our brains."

Langbaum is doing well on the social level. Between his family, his two children, his co-workers and his friends, the social zones of his brain are the subject of vigorous daily training.

So brain training is not for Langbaum. But this can be useful for people who are out of the job market and more isolated, she says.

And she has some tips for anyone looking for a way to keep their brain healthy.

"If you like crosswords, do them," she says. "But try something new, and trying something new that brings you pleasure is the key – do not do it if you do not like it."