New Delhi: Researchers at McGill University in Canada have raised a new hope. Their recent clinical trials have shown that online brain training can not only improve learning and memory, but can also slow down the aging process of the brain.
The study found that people over the age of 65 who used an app called BrainHQ daily for 10 weeks had significant improvements in their cholinergic system. It is a chemical system in the brain that controls attention, memory, and decision-making abilities.
This research has been published in the prestigious journal JMIR Serious Games. It included 92 healthy elderly participants. Half of the participants did brain training on the BrainHQ app for 30 minutes a day for 10 weeks, while the other half played simple computer games just for fun. The results were surprising, because only the BrainHQ group had an increase in brain cholinergic activity, which normally decreases with age.
BrainHQ consists of speed-based cognitive games that become more difficult as you progress. This increases the brain’s neuroplasticity, i.e. its ability to learn new things and adapt. Lead researcher Dr. Etienne de Villers-Sidani said that this training restored the cholinergic health of the brain to the level normally found in a person 10 years younger. This is the first time a non-pharmaceutical intervention has shown such an effect.
He said that this cholinergic system is the first to be affected in Alzheimer’s disease, so these results could prove important in reducing the risk of dementia.
The researchers now plan to test this training on individuals affected by early dementia. According to Dr. Sidani, ‘BrainHQ is already available in the market, so physicians can recommend it as a safe option to improve brain health.’ In this study, changes in the brain were measured through PET scans, comparing the results before and after training.
