Full Description
Late life is characterized by great diversity in memory and other cognitive functions. Although a substantial proportion of older adults suffer from Alzheimer's disease or another form of dementia, a majority retain a high level of cognitive skills throughout the life span. Identifying factors that sustain and enhance cognitive well-being is a growing area of original and translational research.
In 2009, there are as many as 5.2 million Americans living with Alzheimer's disease, and that figure is expected to grow to as many as 16 million by 2050. One in six women and one in 10 men who live to be at least age 55 will develop Alzheimer's disease in their remaining lifetime. Approximately 10 million of the 78 million baby boomers who were alive in 2008 can expect to develop Alzheimer's disease. Seventy percent of people with Alzheimer's disease live at home, cared for by family and friends. In 2008, 9.8 million family members, friends, and neighbors provided unpaid care for someone with Alzheimer's disease or another form of dementia. The direct costs to Medicare and Medicaid for care of people with Alzheimer's disease amount to more than $148 billion annually (from Alzheimer's Association, 2008 Alzheimer's Disease Facts and Figures). This book will highlight the research foundations behind brain fitness interventions as well as showcase innovative community-based programs to maintain and promote mental fitness and intervene with adults with cognitive impairment. The emphasis is on illustrating the nuts and bolts of setting up and utilizing cognitive health programs in the community, not just the laboratory.
Contents
Part I: Research Foundations of Brain Fitness Interventions.- Brain plasticity in aging and early-stage dementia.- Lessons learned from training interventions.- Part II: Community-Based Programs to Enhance and Sustain Healthy Aging.- Memory enhancement strategies: What is known, and what is new?.- Keys to a Sharp Mind: Results of a model program designed by retirees in an independent living community.- The Odyssey program: Friendly competition to boost cognitive fitness.- Spelling Bees for Older Adults: Creating an old fashioned cognitive-social event in your community, or Why does the AARP host a nationwide spelling contest for people over 50? .- Intergenerational schools: Educational models for the future? .- Programs emphasizing engagement in the arts.- TimeSlips and other narrative therapies: How story telling helps older adults.- Home and cognitive fitness: Utilizing "Posit Science," electronic games, and Internet programs at home, in senior centers, and in retirement communities.- Exercise and cognitive fitness in late life: Recommendations from an exercise physiologist.- University Without Walls for seniors: Use of teleconferencing to reduce isolation and increase cognition.- Part III: Cognitive Wellness Interventions for Older Adults with Cognitive Impairment.- Helping the older adult with mild cognitive impairment.- Programs that caregivers can implement: What Maria Montessori knew about helping frail elders.- How can speech therapy promote cognitive skills.- The role of medications and supplements.
