"Use it or lose it" holds true for the brain as much as for other parts of the body, say researchers who found older people who were trained on brain exercises stayed mentally fit for at least five years.

In Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association, Sherry Willis, a human-development professor at Penn State University, and her colleagues describe the results of brain training sessions. They studied nearly 3,000 people with an average age of 73 when the study began.

Sudoku puzzles and crossword puzzles may be good brain exercises for seniors.
(CBC)

The training included hour-long classes over six weeks and exercises done on a computer. Researchers focused on three abilities: memory, reasoning and speed of processing.

Lessons included learning to:

• Categorize items on a grocery list to make them easier to remember and locate.
• Look for patterns in bus schedules to sharpen reasoning skills.
• Quickly identify flashing objects on a computer screen to boost reaction times, such as when driving.

It is unclear whether exercising the brain at home by doing crossword puzzles or making crafts would show similar benefits, although previous studies have shown the activities can help the aging brain to stay sharp.

"Older adults really can continue to exercise mentally and to improve their cognitive abilities," said Willis. "But it does take work. It's just like physical exercise, you have to do it consistently and diligently."

After training, participants who received the reasoning training showed better scores than those who did not receive any training but were still tested.

Much of the benefit lasted for five years after the lessons, and people who took the classes reported feeling better about how they functioned at daily activities such as driving or shopping.

Challenge yourself

The comparison group also showed some improvement, perhaps because of the stimulation of the testing itself, but the benefits were not as great among those who did not receive the training.

Strong mental abilities help older people to take better care of themselves, such as remembering to take their medications.

The key is to keep challenging yourself by increasing the difficulty of the activities you choose, Willis said.

Although the study does not show that mental training is a cure-all, the results are important, said Sheryl Zimmerman, a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researcher on aging.

"The fact that a modest amount of cognitive training had any results five years later … is notable," said Zimmerman, who was not involved in the research.

Age-related mental decline is expected to affect 84 million people worldwide by 2040, according to an accompanying editorial.

With files from the Associated Press