Aging & Brain Health

Written by: Dr. Marcia Whalen

Our partners from the Neuroscience Institute of Hoag Hospital  recently shared a fascinating article with us on some of the latest advancements in brain health.  We hope you find it interesting.  For our clients, we will be offering the MCI Screen discussed below in the near future.

Brain Health: A Vital Component of Overall Wellness

Most of us have grown accustomed to our doctor’s admonishments to eat balanced meals, exercise regularly, manage our cholesterol and hypertension, and keep our weight under control.  While this excellent advice is tied to broad health benefits, it is driven in large part by a focus on a healthy heart and vascular system. 

The Heart-Brain Connection

The focus on the heart will likely persist, but don’t be surprised if your physician has some new advice during your next visit.  An avalanche of evidence over the past 18 months has hammered home the importance of maintaining brain health as a vital component of overall wellness.  This makes sense given that the brain is the heart’s most important customer, demanding a major share of the oxygen rich blood that the heart distributes.

 As you would guess, a healthy brain and high cognitive function are critical components of performing good self-care.  One must remember well, and use sound judgment, in adhering to therapy for chronic conditions such as diabetes, asthma, and hypertension.  If cognition is impaired and therapy becomes poorly administered, these conditions can spiral out of control and further impair self-care in an ever-worsening chain reaction.

 How to Care for Your Brain

So how should you go about taking good care of your brain?  As noted, taking good care of your heart is a good start, but that is not enough.  You and your physician must also be vigilant in detecting and intervening against any medical condition known to impair brain function.  The list of such conditions is long and includes thyroid disorders, depression, sleep disorders, vitamin deficiencies, small silent strokes, medications, poorly controlled diabetes and hypertension, and many others.

 To regularly test and monitor, for all of the conditions mentioned above, would require an intensive effort by your physician.  However, thanks to new advances in the field of cognitive assessment, your physician can evaluate your cognitive function with a short test that will accurately detect any underlying problem. Performing well on the test eliminates the need for many other diagnostic efforts.  However, a poor performance triggers an evaluation by your physician to detect the underlying problem and treat it in a timely and effective manner.

The short test described is called the MCI Screen.  It is administered in the physician’s office and consists of a series of short memory and judgment tasks, which are scored by a computer.  The test takes ten minutes and should be part of any routine physical, or part of any evaluation of a memory or cognitive concern.

Trends in Maintaining Brain Health

Two important trends, one national and one local, underscore the emerging importance of routine cognitive assessment.

On the national level, a key component of healthcare reform is the inclusion of an annual wellness visit for Medicare recipients.  During such visits, physicians are required to assess cognition, even if the patient has no cognitive complaint. This is consistent with the evidence that early detection of cognitive decline and timely intervention to treat the underlying cause, lead to the best outcomes, the best self-care, and the best overall health.

Locally, you may be aware of the Orange County Vital Aging Program*, sponsored by the Unihealth Foundation, and driven by the Neuroscience Institute at Hoag Hospital.  The program is promoting optimal cognitive health for the aging population in the Orange County.  A key element of the program is education for physicians about the importance of monitoring cognitive health with tools like the MCI Screen.  The Personal Care Physicians group is among the early participants who have taken a leading role in providing such high standards of care to their patients.

 So keep taking good care of your heart, but also remember the importance of maintaining a healthy brain.  It’s as easy as monitoring your cognition when you visit the doctor to make sure your brain is functioning at a high level.  If it is not, the assessment will allow your physician to intervene and treat the underlying problem in a timely manner.

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*The Orange County Vital Aging Program provides education and resources to Orange County residents and physicians, to facilitate an informed and proactive approach to managing cognitive vitality.  Additional details about the program are available at www.OCVitalAging.org.