mbrf-cognitive-aging-explained v4.0 - Flipbook - Page 3
WHAT IS COGNITIVE AGING?
Cognitive Aging Is Not a Disease
The brain changes associated with aging are part of a natural process that starts at birth and
continues throughout the lifespan. Cognitive aging cannot be prevented, but there are steps you
can take to optimize your brain and cognitive health.
Recent research found that adopting a series of lifestyle changes such as diet, exercise and
challenging your brain by learning a new skill or starting a new hobby, helped people maintain
and even improve their memory. The study examined the effects of individualized clinical
management among people at risk for cognitive decline in a real-world clinic setting.
COGNITIVE IMPROVEMENT
YEARS OF IMPROVEMENT
4.0
3 years
3.5
younger
3.0
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
1.7 years
0.5
younger
0
BASELINE
Normal/Preclinical Alzheimer’s Disease
ONE YEAR LATER
Mild Cognitive Impairment due to Alzheimer’s Disease
The information in this chart is based on data from the study, Individualized Clinical Management of Patients
at Risk for Alzheimer’s Dementia (2019) and is intended to be a simplified representation of the data for
educational purposes only.
On average, after one year in the study, the cognitive function of a person with mild cognitive
impairment (MCI) due to Alzheimer’s disease looked like that of a person 1.7 years younger, and
the cognitive function of someone with normal memory or preclinical Alzheimer’s disease (i.e.
exhibiting no evidence of cognitive impairment) looked like that of a person 3 years younger.
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