UKC

My son-in-law who has just turned 50 (must have noticed my decline!) is singing the praises of this app which is supposed to keep your brain in good nick (if that’s not already a lost cause) and maybe stave off dementia.

Is there any research to confirm the efficacy of mental PE in this area? Debbie and I take part in two bridge tournaments each week with 18 or 24 boards per session which take 3 or 3.5 hours each. Apart from the enjoyment and social interaction - the latter is possibly good for the brain in itself - we console ourselves that this kind of mental workout must be good for us. Any views on this?

I remember the Christopher Ecclestone video done on behalf of one of the charities showing how Alzheimers is a physical condition and so can occur regardless of keeping one's mind active. Although grim, the positive to it was that as an illness a cure may be able to be found.

Regardless of the science around it, I remain pretty convinced that keeping an active mind, having new social interactions and remaining physically active can help stave off conditions such as dementia. There are doubtlessly myriad examples of the conditions hitting those type of people to prove me wrong, but "sitting oneself into dementia" seems avoidable.

This is the video to which I was referring https://youtu.be/x9MvEZskR6o?si=9400ZwgUTD54XLTU

I think brain training and exercise is to do with having a better starting point if dementia does come along...

i.e. 20-5 > 15-5

Mental gymnastics good.

Had a play on the Elevate app, pleasant enough, not very challenging, certainly won't be upgrading to the paid version.

I do WORDLE and Connections every day, the Everyman crossword and watch University Challenge.

I practice nonsense like reciting the names of all the US states and their capitals. 

Enjoy chess when I can find an opponent.

Complete tangent here, you mention Christopher Ecclestone; what's the connection between him and the title of this thread?

And since this thread is sort of about keeping one's brain active, I'll rephrase that into a Round Britain quiz style question...

How does a heavy flying machine provide what's under the cause of the connection between Christopher Ecclestone and the title of this thread to enable reaching a state of bliss?

I hope you make a point of shouting out the answers before the contestants.

I don’t even understand the question usually, let alone know the answer.

I´m on Lichess (I don´t like Chess.com) if you (or anyone else!) would like a game sometime:

https://lichess.org/@/Wasted_Youth

youtube.com/watch?v=-BhKu3XXi7E& ? 

That's the one 😁 was my first thought when I saw the title of the thread and then someone mentioned Christoper Ecclestone.

I have actually submitted an expanded version of the question to the R4 Round Britain quiz which has been added to their "file" for consideration in the next series.

My utterly unvalidated take on this is that the main things that keep you going are social engagement, physical fitness and diet - not necessarily in any order.

Get off your ass, get out there and socialise, and join Zoe - or at least understand the principles behind their work and save the money.

An alternative to socialising is to keep working. Useful when the economic apocalypse arrives in the next few years

As a company, Zoe aren't doing as well as they'd like - there's been more than one round of redundancies.

It's a shame, but unfortunately the basic advice is easy to follow and get benefit from without spending £££s on their services. I wish them well, but I haven't spent much money on them at all apart from buying a couple of Spector's books (which are entertaining) and I've tried their 7-day all-you-need birdseed packets that Waitrose sell. 

I've just joined Zoe. I'm learning a lot from it. Seemed expensive at first but the ROI is amazing...can't put a price on health and wellbeing.

Blood sugar monitor was useful and I've worked out how to keep my energy levels more consistent.

I use the app to check various foods (new things I haven't checked before).

Sleeping better, feeling better, thinking better

That's good to hear! I should probably stick my hand in my pocket and get on with it.

For blood sugar levels, another useful online resource is Jesse Inchauspé, a French biochemist who has put a lot of work into understanding the relationship between food, blood sugar, energy levels and mood. She's written a book, which is good, and has a website/blog called Glucose Goddess.

Spouting BS based on prejudice and assumption not peer reviewed research but it seems to me that...

In a similar way that we need to have a healthy balanced diet with lots of variety, not pick a single theoretically "best" superfood and eat exclusively that. Mental activity also needs wide variety as well as challenge. There is no one single activity or phone app that is some magic answer, rather you need to engage your brain with a diverse range of active (not passive!) challenging activities that you enjoy 

Like picking from several of major food groups, you need to pick stuff from several major thinking groups.

* Plasticity (fancy way to say learning new tricks). Duolingo - totally free! Spend 10 minutes every day working on a language 

* Numbers and patterns - pick some puzzle app or do the sudoku or whatever  floats your boat

* Words - crossword, word puzzle whatever floats your boat 

* Short term memory games of any kind. The first thing we lose is short term especially future memory, so exercise this part of your brain ("future memory" is remembering to do stuff in the future, like remember to switch the oven on at 6pm, don't forget to tell your neighbour about whatever next time you see them, or what did I just go into the kitchen for????? This is future memory)

*Social stuff - keep doing your bridge!

Don't underestimate the physical, keep in shape but prioritise 

1) Short high intensity stuff not low intensity steady state, you want to improve peripheral circulation and small vessel health.

2) strength - like very low rep strength training, I mean improving your 3 rep max not doing something for 20 reps! Type 2 strength fibres get way worse a hammering from age than endurance type 1 stuff. We all know older people who can walk to the shops and back but can't open a jam jar. Strength is lost way faster than endurance, but brilliant news is strength training in the older population is spectacularly effective. (Links to explanation, actual research etc available to those interested)