Boost Your Memory At Any Age

Research Shows Brain Fitness  Games Boost Memory

Can you improve your memory, regardless of age?  Up until a few years ago, scientists believed that the aging brain just keeps getting older while losing its edge.  The idea that you could turn back the clock on your brain and memory was regarded as far fetched. Not so.  Regular use of a brain fitness program appears to produce a slight improvement in memory after two months and major improvements after 6 months of regular use.  The game — Dakim Brain Fitness — has you play games to exercise long and short term memory, critical thinking, calculation and language.

The promising results from this easy-to-use, relatively inexpensive computer program were presented by Karen Miller, PhD, from UCLA, at the annual meeting of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry. The trial included 38 subjects with an average age just under 83 years!

The Dakim program has as many as 400 activities at five levels of difficulty.  Although computer based, it is easy enough for people with no prior computer experience.

Detailed neuropsychological testing was performed at the start, after 2 months and then at 6 months.  At 2 months, word recall jumped from 7.6 words to 8.3 words in the study group, while the control group’s recall actually dropped from 6.8 words to 5.3 words.

GETS BETTER WITH USE!

At 6 months the improvements were even more impressive, with overall memory improvement scores increasing nearly 15%, while the control scores actually dropped a few percentage points.  The key finding, according to Dr. Miller, is that the longer a person uses the program, the more likely he or she is to improve.  She termed the results at 6 months as “most overwhelmingly positive.”

Interestingly, Dr Miller works as a consultant for Dakim.  On the other hand, the evaluation and scoring of study subject is pretty straightforward and objective, presumably difficult to manipulate or distort.  Also, one of my own patients, an intelligent 65 year old woman, reports significant and personally gratifying improvement in her own scores over the last few months.

TAKE HOME:  Consider teaming the Dakim Program up with regular resistance training to optimize your total fitness.  The Dakim program is available on their web site for $249.  I have no financial connection to Dakim.