Ep. 172: Dr. Jerri Edwards, Maintaining Cognitive Abilities with Age

Dr. Jerri Edwards joined our 2021 Achieving Optimal Health Conference to discuss maintaining cognitive abilities as we age, improving brain fitness, and how cognitive interventions can help improve our quality of life. Listen in and learn about keeping your mind healthy!

More on Dr. Jerri Edwards:
PACT Website: www.pactstudy.org
Facebook: www.facebook.com/USFPACT
BrainHQ from Posit Science: www.brainhq.com

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Learn more about BB&R and Achieving Optimal Health Conference by visiting BBRconsulting.us


Quotes:
Your cognitive quickness starts to slow down at the age of twenty-five. Dr. Jerri Edwards

We need brain fitness programs that help us focus, multitask, and pay attention to more than one thing at a time. Dr. Jerri Edwards

Computerized brain training makes people faster and more accurate at everyday tasks important for maintained independence. Dr. Jerri Edwards

Show Notes:
Dr. Jerri Edwards: Cognition includes verbal abilities, such as over our vocabulary, our ability to think of the right words quickly.

Dr. Jerri Edwards: Mental quickness is how quickly we can both take in information as well as to react to information.

Dr. Jerri Edwards: Our verbal skills for the most part and our knowledge continue to improve throughout the lifespan.

Dr. Jerri Edwards: What tends to decline the most and for most people, is our cognitive quickness.

Dr. Jerri Edwards: Working memory is not just simply remembering a grocery list, for example, but it's being able to juggle information and take in new information at the same time.

Dr. Jerri Edwards: This kind of transitional stage between normal cognitive aging and dementia called mild cognitive impairment, is that you can revert back to what is considered normal.

Dr. Jerri Edwards: There are several common treatable causes of cognitive impairment.

Dr. Jerri Edwards: As we age, our ability to metabolize medication changes.

Dr. Jerri Edwards: Any time someone is having difficulty, we should always do a review of all of the medications they're taking.

Dr. Jerri Edwards: Both vitamin B and D are very important to your maintained cognitive function.

Dr. Jerri Edwards: Thyroid problems can also cause cognitive impairment in older adults.

Dr. Jerri Edwards: Yoga and tai chi have brain and body benefits, particularly for older adults.

Dr. Jerri Edwards: Our diet is important and with regard to brain health, what's particularly important is having your antioxidants.

Dr. Jerri Edwards: We're increasingly realizing that hearing problems are associated with a higher risk of dementia.

Dr. Jerri Edwards: What makes a brain training program valuable is if it really makes a difference in your everyday real-world functioning. 

Dr. Jerri Edwards: The most well-studied program, which is now called Brain HQ. This is a program marketed by Posit Science. I do not have any financial interest in this program, but I have studied it as a scientist.

Dr. Jerri Edwards: Speed-of-processing training is the only intervention to date shown to reduce your risk of dementia in a randomized clinical trial.

Dr. Jerri Edwards: Important and meaningful outcomes that older adults can benefit from this particular type of brain training, speed of processing, training.

Dr. Jerri Edwards: Benefits of cognitive speed of processing training also include maintaining your health-related quality of life being less likely to become depressed, having an improved sense of control and reducing your risk of dementia.

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TriciaReillyKoch, DoroBushKoch, HealthGig, Longevity, Wellness, PhysicalHealth, MentalHealth, Health, HealthCare, JerriEdwards, Altheimers, CognitiveWellness, Dementia