Mindfulness and exercise might improve your mood, help you sleep better, lower your blood pressure and reduce anxiety, but they don’t offer help for significantly improving cognitive function in older adults.
A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that mindfulness training, exercise or both offered no help for significantly improving cognitive function in older adults with subjective cognitive concerns.The randomized study of 585 older adults with cognitive concerns, but not dementia, studied whether mindfulness-based stress reduction, exercise, or a combination of both improved cognitive function in older adults.
“The findings do not support the hypothesis that these interventions improve cognitive performance in older adults,” the study found.The disappointing results come amid a scramble to find drugs or treatment to stave off or fight dementia. There are no widely available treatments that have been shown to slow cognitive decline.
More than 6 million Americans, most of them age 65 or older, may have dementia caused by Alzheimer’s, according to the National Institute on Aging. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expects that number to triple over the next 40 years.