Senior Citizens Improve Brain Functions by
Participating in Volunteer Social Service
First study to demonstrate that social service
programs can have the added benefits of improving the cognitive
abilities of older adults volunteers
Dec. 15, 2009 - Volunteer service, such as tutoring
children, can help older adults delay or reverse declining brain
function, according to a study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins
Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI),
the researchers found that seniors participating in a youth mentoring
program made gains in key brain regions that support cognitive abilities
important to planning and organizing one’s daily life.
The study is the first to demonstrate that valuable
social service programs, such as Experience Corps - a program designed
to both benefit children and older adults’ health - can have the added
benefits of improving the cognitive abilities of older adults, enhancing
their quality of life. The study is published in the December issue of
the
Journals of Gerontology: Medical Sciences.
About 78 million Americans were born from 1946 to
1964. Individuals of retirement age are the fastest-growing sector of
the U.S. population, so there is great interest in preserving their
cognitive and physical abilities, especially given the societal cost of
the alternative.
"We found that participating in Experience Corps
resulted in improvements in cognitive functioning and this was
associated with significant changes in brain activation patterns,” said
lead investigator
Michelle C. Carlson, PhD, associate professor in the Bloomberg
School’s
Department of Mental Health and
Center on Aging and Health. “Essentially the intervention improved
brain and cognitive function in these older adults."
The study is the first of its kind to examine the
effect of Experience Corps, a national volunteer service program that
trains seniors to help children in urban public schools with reading and
academic success in other areas.
The study followed 17 women aged 65 and older. Half
participated in existing Experience Corps programs in Baltimore schools,
while the other half were wait-listed to enroll in Experience Corps the
following year. Participants were evaluated at enrollment and again six
months later, which included fMRI brain scans and cognitive function
testing.
“While the results of this study are preliminary,
they hold promise for enhancing and maintaining brain reserve in later
life, particularly among sedentary individuals who may benefit most
urgently from behavioral interventions like Experience Corps,” said
Carlson, who is now leading a larger fMRI trial as part of a large-scale
randomized trial of the Baltimore Experience Corps Program.
“As life expectancies increase, it’s important,
from a public health standpoint, to delay the onset of diseases
associated with aging,” said senior author Linda P. Fried, MD, MPH, dean
of the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University.
“This study suggests that new kinds of roles for
older adults in our aging society can be designed as a win-win—for
addressing important societal needs, such as our children’s success, and
simultaneously the health and well-being of the older volunteers
themselves.”
Additional authors of “Evidence For Neurocognitive
Plasticity In At-risk Older Adults: The Experience Corps Program”
include Kirk I. Erickson, University of Pittsburgh; Arthur F. Kramer and
Michelle W. Voss, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Sylvia
McGill, The Greater Homewood Community Corporation, Baltimore, Md.;
Teresa Seeman, University of California, Los Angeles; and Natalie Bolea,
George W. Rebok and Michelle Mielke, Johns Hopkins University.
The research was co-funded by a Research and Career
Development award to Dr. Carlson from the Johns Hopkins Claude D. Pepper
Center and by a gift from S.D. Bechtel.
Keep up with the latest news for senior citizens, baby
boomers
Dec. 15, 2009 - Volunteer service, such as tutoring
children, can help older adults delay or reverse declining brain
function, according to a study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins
Bloomberg School of Public Health. 
