Breakthrough results from the ACTIVE study:
One type of brain exercise lowered dementia risk by up to 48%
As you may have seen in the news, a study presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Toronto by Dr. Jerri Edwards this week showed that a unique brain exercise cut the long-term risk of dementia nearly in half. Two other types of brain training did not have a significant effect on dementia rates.
The exercise, originally called “speed training,” is exclusively licensed to Posit Science and is available as “Double Decision” in BrainHQ. No other program has it.
The ACTIVE study compared three specific types of brain training:
- Speed training (now available as “Double Decision” in BrainHQ)
- Memory training
- Reasoning training
What did the participants do?
- People were divided into four groups: speed training, memory training, reasoning training, or a control group.
- Everyone trained on their assigned type of training for about 10 hours at the beginning of the study (except the control group, who did nothing).
- Some people had 4-hour “booster” sessions in months 11 and 35 of the study.
Results in Dementia
At the end of the 10-year study, the average age of participants was 84 years old. The type of cognitive training—and how much training—they had done near the beginning of the study affected rates of dementia.
- Speed training for 10 hours cut dementia risk by 33%.
- More was better: speed training for 18 hours cut dementia risk by 48%.
- Neither memory nor reasoning training had a significant effect on dementia rates.
Other Results
The dementia results are the latest to come out of the ACTIVE study. Earlier results showed participants in speed training improved at measures of processing speed, independent living, mood, confidence, health, and driving safety.
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