SAN FRANCISCO — While a particular brain training app —BrainHQ from Posit Science — has already been shown to prevent cognitive decline and improve brain health in older adults, researchers at the University of Rochester and Stanford University have now found that the same app can improve cognitive health in family members who are providing care to loved ones with Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias.
“Anyone who has been a family caregiver knows how mentally demanding and exhausting that vital role is,” observed Dr. Henry Mahncke, CEO of Posit Science. “We applaud the independent researchers who designed and ran this new study for taking these issues seriously and for recognizing that the benefits of BrainHQ shown in studies of other populations could also address the brain health challenges experienced by caregivers.”
According to the Alzheimer’s Association, each year more than 11 million Americans are providing an estimated 18.4 billion hours of unpaid care (valued at more than $346 billion) to people living with dementia.
The chronic stress of caregiving, this new study notes, is known to be associated with many health risks for caregivers, including accelerated cognitive aging (declines in attention, processing speed, and memory), greater risks of ill health and mortality, as well as diminished emotional well-being. Family caregivers are often older adults themselves, with challenges in adapting to the ongoing stressors of caregiving. Such stressors include watching a family member’s declining functional ability and increasing neuropsychiatric symptoms (apathy, mood disturbance, and agitation), as well as behavioral changes. Those stressors are often compounded by feelings of loss of a significant relationship with a loved one, as well as by family conflict around care.
In this randomized controlled study published in Innovation and Aging, a peer-reviewed journal of the Gerontological Society of America, the researchers reported they had enrolled 195 caregivers (aged 55-85) and randomized them into either the intervention group, which was assigned five exercises organized as a regimen on the BrainHQ app, or into an active control group, which was assigned educational videos (e.g., public television series on cooking, travel, or history, and other documentaries) that participants self-selected from a study website. Participants in both groups were asked to engage in their assigned activity for 30 minutes per session, across 3 sessions per week, for 8 weeks (12 hours, in total).
All participants were assessed (at baseline, after 8 weeks, and at 6- and 12-month follow-ups) on measures of processing speed and attention, working memory under stress, and emotion reactivity to laboratory and caregiving stressors.
The researchers found that the BrainHQ group had significantly improved processing speed and attention performance as compared to the active control group, and these differences persisted through the 6-month follow-up. In the 6-month follow-up, working memory performance under stress was significantly better among the BrainHQ compared to the active control group. At 12 months, caregivers in the BrainHQ group reported less negative emotion in response to behavioral symptoms of their care recipient. There were no group differences on acute emotion reactivity to the laboratory stressor at any time point.
The researchers conclude, “Evidence from this clinical trial suggests that with continued development, targeted, neuroplasticity-based cognitive training has strong potential to strengthen stress adaptation and emotional resilience in caregivers of a family member with ADRD” [Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias].
BrainHQ exercises have shown benefits in more than 300 studies. Such benefits include gains in cognition (attention, speed, memory, decision-making), in quality of life (depressive symptoms, confidence and control, health-related quality of life) and in real-world activities (health outcomes, balance, driving, workplace activities). BrainHQ is offered by leading health and Medicare Advantage plans, by leading medical centers, clinics, and communities, and by elite athletes, the military, and other organizations focused on peak performance. Consumers can try a BrainHQ exercise for free daily at https://www.brainhq.com.