Six Ways to Improve Your IQ and Keep Alzheimer's Disease at Bay

Long before reality TV threatened to deaden our collective intellect, there was another form of entertainment branded a downsizer of the IQ. That unlikely culprit was the crossword.

The Times newspaper in 1927 reported the craze sweeping America as "making devastating inroads on the waking hours of every rank of society" and claimed it had been "shown to break up homes."

Ironically, puzzles such as The Herald's giant crossword published today, chess, the number game Sudoku and IQ tests are today seen as the tools to give users a rigorous mental workout. They can improve mental age by up to 14 years, so the scientists claim.

Scientists have found the neurological equivalent of an untoned body could lead to a drastic dulling of cerebral powers. Most worryingly, an under-stretched mind may put some individuals at increased risk of dementia in later life.

Researchers at Edinburgh University in England have discovered "survival genes" switched on by problem solving, which keep brain cells healthy. By working out how these genes work, they hope to develop treatments to cure Alzheimer's and other neurological problems. A report earlier this month in the New Scientist also stated that people with higher IQs and mentally demanding jobs are better at fighting the effects of mental decline. The U.S. Alzheimer's Association is subsequently encouraging people to increase their "cognitive reserves" by keeping fit, minimizing stress, avoiding alcohol and drugs and, crucially, putting the brain

Dr. David Weeks, a consultant clinical neuropsychologist at Royal Edinburgh Hospital in England, recommends that to keep the brain trim, you should do 45 minutes of mental exercise per day. As with physical exercise, it pays to vary your regime and, in gym-speak, "increase the resistance" -- in this case mental resistance -- by doing things that don't come easily. "Do a few things you've not done before -- if you don't usually tackle science, read a science book. You're never too old: Most of the evidence shows that people of any age can learn."As well as puzzles, he highlights creative pursuits (such as writing or sculpture), memory games -- and social interaction. "Social interaction challenges you to formulate your own ideas in response to someone else, " he says.

"It may sound like a simplistic idea, but if you don't use it, you lose it," says Mensa's Scottish officer, Rowena Love. "Everyone can see the difference in their speed and accuracy if they've been doing something such as mental arithmetic regularly over a period. Those who take up chess or do crosswords often find themselves moving on to higher levels as they get better at it. Many people can do our Mensa puzzles correctly, but the ones who score best can do them faster.

"You don't have to be hunched over a puzzle book to sharpen up your mind, either."

Love, a writer and foreign language teacher, suggests a number of activities that may just help to blow away the cobwebs:

• Don't be lazy with your vocabulary: Learn new words and use them in your day-to-day speech, come up with more original ways to say the same thing, or learn a new language.
• Take up a pastime such as Scottish country dancing or salsa: Not only are you having to learn steps, but you are getting physical exercise, too.
• Break your usual routine by varying the route you take to work, or what you listen to on the radio or the kind of book or newspaper you read.
• Get out socially.
• Try forcing your brain to work differently by writing words with the opposite hand you are used to.
• One evening a week, don't turn on the television, and rely on other ideas to occupy your evening.

Memory plays a key part in keeping people sharp. The tragedy of Alzheimer's is that it strips away the building blocks of the memory and gradually erases the personality of those who have it.

Dr. Fraser Inglis is a consultant at the Glasgow Memory Clinic in England, which carried out research into the onset of Alzheimer's disease.

He says, "We know that when the brain learns and stores information, somehow, the connections between nerve cells are enhanced. It's like flexing a muscle on your arm. It gets stronger with use, but wastes away if underused."

He adds that memory is a vital component in making us who we are: "From the moment as babies we learn to balance, walk and talk, we are building up what makes us human. Alzheimer's dismantles that piece by piece. It's not clear how often people should do mental exercises before they see benefits, but there are undoubtedly benefits to staying active, improving health regarding diet and fitness, and making sure there is plenty of social interaction with others."

According to Rita Carter, author of the book Use Your Brain to Beat Memory Loss (Cassell Illustrated, 2005), all is not bleak, even if you have been a couch potato.

She says, "There are dozens of causes of memory failure. Some are temporary and mean nothing, while others are caused by illness, such as fevers or by the use of drugs or alcohol.

"The problem is often reversible as the brain is amazingly pliable and capable, to a point of rewiring itself either by treating the underlying cause or learning to use it in a different way."