Use it or lose it. Thats the message experts are giving to seniors and baby boomers regarding the importance of exercising the brain to fend off memory loss.


Triggered in part by research that has linked mentally stimulating activities with a decreased risk for dementia, more retirement facilities here are launching brain fitness programs.


The brain-boosting activities being offered here, typically as part of a wellness program, include computer courses, classroom work, and games like sudoku, which is a logic-based number placement puzzle.


With your brain, like many other parts of your body, its use it or lose it, says Joel Loiacono, executive director at the Alzheimers Associations Inland Northwest Chapter. Similar to how you tone your muscles, you have to tone your brain, or it can get flabby.


The aging U.S. population has significant incentives for breaking a mental sweat. An estimated 5.1 million Americans have Alzheimers disease, he says. About 8,000 to 10,000 people in Spokane County currently have the disease, and that number is expected to jump 81 percent by 2025.


Cognitive decline with aging appears to occur because of loss of brain cells, the Alzheimers Association says. In contrast, mentally and physically stimulating activities strengthen nerve cells and the connections between them by increasing blood flow to the brain, the association says.


Theres enough clinical evidence that shows these types of programs help to reduce your chances of getting dementia, Loiacono says of brain fitness programs, adding, though, that they dont guarantee a person wont get dementia. Even for people who are diagnosed, mental and physical exercise is important as far as not going so fast downhill.


In a study published last month in the online edition of Neurology, the medical journal of the Academy of Neurology, researchers found that a cognitively active person was 2.6 times less likely to develop Alzheimers disease and other dementia-related illnesses in old age than a cognitively inactive person.


Meanwhile, early results from a study being conducted at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center show that attention-training activities targeted at older adults resulted in improved concentration and performance on tasks.


Those findings echo what seniors say theyre experiencing as a result of participating in the Brain Fitness computer program at Fairwinds-Spokane, at 520 E. Holland, says Vickie Cullen, marketing consultant at the retirement community. Cullen says that after taking part in the program, seniors tell her theyre able to do crossword puzzles more quickly, because theyre remembering more words. In addition, theyre able to be more independent and often have a more positive outlook on life, she says.


Fairwinds, which is owned by Bellevue, Wash.-based Leisure Care Inc., launched the program last fall, Cullen says. Developed by San Francisco-based Posit Science Corp., the program includes a series of exercises aimed at older adults and designed to improve listening skills, memory, and attention, she says.


Seniors at Fairwinds enroll in an eight-week course in which they participate in one-hour sessions each day, five days a week, she says. The program costs $100 for residents and $200 for non-residents.


The Brain Fitness program only requires use of a mouse, which is helpful to seniors who arent computer savvy, she says. One activity involves listening to a series of sounds and differentiating between high and low pitches. In another, participants read a short story, then answer questions about the story to improve reading comprehension. The program calibrates its level of difficulty to each persons skill level, and increases the level of difficulty with each session.


In addition to computer programs like Brain Fitness, video games that aim to increase cognitive function also have emerged. For instance, Nintendo has released a game called Brain Age for its handheld videogame console thats marketed toward adults. The game features a variety of puzzles designed to stimulate different parts of the brain. At the end of some of the activities, the game computes an age for the players brain, based on his or her performance, with higher ages indicating worse performance.


While electronic games are useful tools for getting mentally fit, classroom settings that involve teamwork also are important for maintaining seniors social skills, asserts Brenda Jurich, wellness director at Rockwood South, at 2903 E. 25th. Rockwood Souths Mind Aerobics class, which it started two years ago, involves simple math problems, number sequence identification, wordplay games, short-term memory games, and listening comprehension exercises, Jurich says. Some games also involve physical exercise, such as memorizing the instructors clapping sequence and then re-enacting it.


Weve all experienced times when our brains get a bit rusty, Jurich says. I tell my seniors those muscles are there, theyve just been on vacation, and now they have to go back to work.


Rockwoods one-hour Mind Aerobics sessions include individual, small-group, and large-group activities, she says. Seniors also are given homework to complete between each session, which can include sudoku, cryptograms, and other logical-thinking activities.


The classes also prepare them to perform practical tasks, such as memorizing emergency phone numbers, remembering items on a grocery list, or calculating change at a cash register, she says.


At Waterford on South Hill, located at 2929 S. Waterford Drive, intellectually stimulating activities are offered as part of the facilitys Life Enrichment program, says spokeswoman Mary Johnson. Seniors get together once a week to discuss current events, participate in a summer reading program in which they read books to children, and volunteer for various charities, she says. Waterford encourages strategy-oriented games such as bridge, and is considering starting a sudoku club this fall, she says.


Holy Family Adult Day Centers conducts what it calls cognitive stimulation groups each day, says Linda Fairhurst, its intake and marketing director. During the 45-minute class, seniors work on brain teasers, puzzles, and simple math problems. While the centers have offered the program for decades, Fairhurst says in recent years more spouses and children of seniors have been asking whether the facility offers activities geared toward exercising the brain.


Theres definitely an increased awareness of the need to keep the mind stimulated, Fairhurst says. We get feedback from caregivers that our seniors are engaging in conversations more often at home, so were seeing positive results.


While seniors typically are the ones taking part in brain fitness programs, the idea also is taking hold with residents baby boom-aged children, many of whom have seen the devastating toll dementia has taken on loved ones and are searching for ways to keep their own potential memory loss at bay, Rockwood Souths Jurich says.


Baby boomers should be paying more attention to maintaining their cognitive function, both because theyre nearing retirement, when vigorous mental activity tends to decrease, and because they could be at risk for early-onset dementia, Loiacono asserts.


People think of Alzheimers as strictly a senior problem. Think again, he says.


He adds, Baby boomers, now is the time to act, not later. Youve had your fun, now is the time to start thinking about these issues.


Loiacono says he expects that as awareness increases about the relationship between cognitive function and memory loss, more retirement communities will start offering brain health programs. He cautions, though, against thinking about dementia strictly in terms of its effects on memory.


When it comes to dementia, I think people focus entirely too much on the memory aspect, which is like saying that cancer is just about having your hair fall out, he says. Dementia is much more profound.


Dementia can affect a persons ability to think well enough to eat or get dressed, and it can change a persons personality. People also can lose problem-solving skills and the ability to control emotions, he says.


The Alzheimers Association promotes the importance of preserving cognitive function, Loiacono says. It holds workshops here to inform people about how they can sustain healthy brain function and potentially decrease their risk for Alzheimers.


Contact Emily Brandler at (509) 344-1265 or via e-mail at emilyb@spokanejournal.com.