Brain training for healthy aging

Christopher Thomas

Christopher Thomas has written 125 posts in this blog.

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Working memory a key marker of a healthy brain

There is much we can do to enhance our brain’s function. One of the most important parts that can be built up is working memory – the part of our brain used for temporarily storing and manipulating information, such as mental arithmetic, attention span, remembering instructions and following through on them. Working memory is important for a wide range of cognitive functions and is especially vulnerable to aging. Recently, a number of exercises have been developed to train and enhance working memory in the short-term.  Although the long-term impacts are less clear, significant and measurable improvement in the cells that determine the threshold for Parkinson’s disease have been recently shown.

Neurofeedback to improve brain performance

Another approach to enhance the aging brain is biofeedback – skills that help you self-regulate your brain activity are acquired by way of immediate feedback and positive reinforcement. One example is neurofeedback, where feedback is achieved by hooking you up to an electroencephalogram (EEG), which painlessly records spontaneous electrical activity (brain waves) through your scalp. Skilled neurofeedback therapists monitor these patterns, then feed back information about changes in your brain activity via displays on television monitors or radio signals. This ‘biofeedback’ can be used to develop self reliant techniques for controlling and redirecting the dominant electrical rhythms of your brain. A QEEG taken first can also be helpful in identifying the best focus for your brain retraining and reduce training time.

In healthy individuals, neurofeedback techniques can improve performance in exams, sport and artistic expression. How the methods actually work is a matter of ongoing research. It has been argued that biofeedback training, an attention-demanding task, simply serves to improve attention and concentration through repetition. Neurofeedback techniques, however, also seem to have specific and long-lasting effects on brain physiology and metabolism, apparently stimulating the development of new neural pathways, improving blood flow in the brain and even the generation of new brain cells.  These effects may also be beneficial, in the context of our aging brain, to memory, reaction time, processing speed and general cognitive functioning.  In addition, some individuals report improvements in everyday functioning, including writing, playing card games, actions involving short-term memory as well as sound, restful sleep.

Audio Visual Entrainment (AVE)

An alternative (and less expensive) way to regulate the brain’s function is via Audio Visual Entrainment (AVE). AVE uses displays of sound and light to guide the brain toward specific frequencies. The brain will essentially ‘join in’, following a flicker of light, the throbbing of a sound or even a tactile stimulus such as stroking: like a carriage pulled behind a locomotive (hence the term entrainment), the brain is carried ‘up’ or ‘down’, increasing or decreasing its dominant frequencies in response to particular stimuli. For example, when a setting on the AVE device designed to ‘up-train’ the brain is selected, neural activity will follow the stimulus into the ‘fast wave’ range – and most people will experience a growing sense of focus, energy and concentration.

In individuals with impaired function, AVE can produce sustained improvements. This is possibly because the methods prevent inattention, but there is also evidence that repeated stimulation of brain cells actually promotes brain growth, blood flow and formation of new neural connections, the latter of which may be important in slowing the effects of aging. So find some way to stimulate your brain and turn it on. 

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