Ever won­dered what explains the some­times sur­real, often mis­guided, health poli­cies by our gov­ern­ment? Well,  it is beyond our hum­ble brains to cap­ture and artic­u­late what may be going on…but we now see that lack of access to qual­ity infor­ma­tion is cer­tainly not the main prob­lem. Decision-making processes, and struc­tural incen­tives, would prob­a­bly merit more attention.…

I men­tion this because we are really impressed by the just-published 24-page spe­cial issue on Pre­vent­ing Mem­ory Loss by Con­gres­sional Quar­terly Researcher, one of the main pub­li­ca­tions in Capi­tol Hill.

The pub­li­ca­tion is not free, but worth the price for any­one active pro­fes­sion­ally in the health­care sec­tor, or inter­ested in learn­ing about lat­est research and pol­icy trends, from aca­d­e­mics to stu­dents. You can buy Buy the Elec­tronic PDF ($4.95) or Buy the Printed Copy ($15 — $5 dis­count using pro­mo­tion code “L8BRAIN” = $10).

Descrip­tion

As the nation’s baby boomers age, they are increas­ingly wor­ried that their mem­o­ries will dete­ri­o­rate — and with good rea­son. An esti­mated 10 mil­lion boomers will develop Alzheimer’s dis­ease or another memory-destroying neu­rode­gen­er­a­tive con­di­tion in the com­ing years. Pol­icy mak­ers and health offi­cials worry that the result­ing bulge in the num­ber of suf­fer­ers will bur­den the nation’s already strained health-care sys­tem. In the wake of these con­cerns, a vibrant brain-fitness indus­try is offer­ing a vari­ety of ways to help peo­ple keep their brains healthy, includ­ing the use of cognition-enhancing drugs and exer­cise. But many experts say much of what the pub­lic is being told is of lim­ited value, at best. Inten­si­fied brain research begun years ago at the National Insti­tutes of Health is just now begin­ning to pro­duce data that sci­en­tists hope will advance efforts to pre­vent mem­ory loss, but they worry that flat fed­eral fund­ing since 2003 may com­pro­mise the drive for solutions.

The writer

Mar­cia Clem­mitt is a vet­eran social-policy reporter who joined CQ Researcher after serv­ing as edi­tor in chief of Med­i­cine and Health, a Washington-based indus­try newslet­ter, and staff writer for The Sci­en­tist. She has also been a high school math and physics teacher. She holds a bachelor’s degree in arts and sci­ences from St. Johns Col­lege, Annapo­lis, and a mas­ters degree in Eng­lish from George­town University.

Table of Con­tents

The Issues

291 — Do we know how to retard mem­ory loss?
–Is mem­ory loss a big­ger prob­lem today than in ear­lier gen­er­a­tions?
– Are we on the way to cur­ing Alzheimer’s dis­ease?
– Should the use of memory-enhancing drugs be encour­aged for peo­ple with nor­mal memories?

Back­ground

298 Mul­ti­ple Mem­o­ries
The brain has sev­eral dif­fer­ent mem­ory processes.
301 The Con­nec­tion Machine
One brain cell can affect 10,000 oth­ers.
302 Slip­ping Mem­o­ries
Decline begins by age 20.
303 Men­tal Strengths
All-important “gist” mem­ory doesn’t fade with age.
304 Brain Dis­ease
Alzheimer’s is the most com­mon condition.

Cur­rent Situation

304 Pub­lic Fund­ing
Memory-research fund­ing has remained flat since 2003.
306 Research Advances
New dis­cov­er­ies about mem­ory have been made.

Out­look
307 Fit­ter Brains?
Entre­pre­neurs are devel­op­ing “brain fit­ness” prod­ucts.

Side­bars and Graphics

292 Alzheimer’s More Com­mon Among Older Women
About one-in-six women 55 and older have or will develop Alzheimer’s.
293 Alzheimer’s Deaths Rise as Oth­ers Decline
Deaths from Alzheimer’s have increased 45 per­cent.
294 Alzheimer’s Risk Increases With Age
Nearly half of those over 85 have the dis­ease.
296 Mar­ket­ing ËœBrain Fit­ness“
The U.S. mar­ket grew to $225 mil­lion in 2007.
297 Unlock­ing the Mys­tery of Mem­ory
High-tech tools reveal the brain in action.
299 Chronol­ogy
Key events since 1885.
300 Tips on Hold­ing onto Your Mem­ory
Good nutri­tion, exer­cise and stress reduc­tion can help.
303 Spend­ing on Research Has Been Flat
No major increases since 2004.
305 At Issue

Should we encour­age use of sci­en­tific tech­niques to enhance mem­ory and other cog­ni­tive functions?

For Fur­ther Research

309 For More Infor­ma­tion
Orga­ni­za­tions to con­tact.
310 Bib­li­og­ra­phy
Selected sources used.
311 The Next Step
Addi­tional arti­cles.
311 Cit­ing CQ Researcher
Sam­ple bib­li­og­ra­phy formats.

Reprinted with per­mis­sion from CQ Press, Pre­vent­ing Mem­ory Loss, CQ Researcher.

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