Brain Health Across the Lifespan
Brain fitness: a solution for healthy aging
The loss of brain health commonly associated with aging can be devastating. Beyond the personal toll on patients and their families, deteriorating cognitive and mental health affects all of us and represents a substantial challenge to our healthcare system and communities. Now is the time to change how science and society think about aging, cognitive and mental disease, focusing on what we are calling lifelong brain fitness.
Oanh Meyer is no stranger to Alzheimer’s disease. Her everyday life revolves around caring for those who suffer from the ailment. Meyer’s office is at the UC Davis Alzheimer’s Disease Center in Sacramento. But her care goes beyond the clinic.
A study of over 6,300 Latinos of Dominican, Central American, Cuban, Mexican Puerto Rican and South American heritage estimates that nearly 10% of middle-age and older Latinos in the U.S. meet the criteria for mild cognitive impairment.
Brain health is both a biological issue and a social one — and something that should be addressed across the lifespan, says the longtime leader of UC Davis Health’s NIH designated Alzheimer’s Disease Center.
Leaders of UC Davis Health announced Thursday that the state of California has awarded its scientists and clinicians $8.8 million – or almost 42 percent – of a $21 million package earmarked for the study of Alzheimer’s disease.
UC Davis researchers announced Tuesday that, after studying brain tissue from 423 Americans of Latino, African and non-Hispanic white descent, they have discovered startling variations in the causes of dementia among people of different races and ethnicities.
Charles DeCarli and Kimberley McAllister are taking an interdisciplinary approach to rethink how brain health is defined as champions of the Healthy Brain Aging Initiative.
We know that our experiences shape the way we learn. If we are familiar with a task, like cooking, learning a new recipe is easier than it was when we were a novice.
