Poor levels of word memory, verbal fluency, processing speed and cognitive ability in our 50s are early indicators of deteriorating balance in later life, a condition that increases the risk of falls, injuries and death, researchers from University College London have found. . The findings also open up the interesting possibility that cognitive education in middle age could have a positive impact on balance as we age. “Our research highlights the strong cognitive implications of successful equilibrium,” said Dr Joanna Blodgett, lead author of the paper. “Ongoing balance / fall risk interventions tend to focus on physical aspects, such as strength or balance training. However, it may now be useful to investigate whether interventions that improve cognitive function could also improve balance. Previous research on balance ability has focused primarily on physical aspects such as underlying musculoskeletal strength or mobility. “Our research shows that given the critical neuronal integration of sensory input and the motor response required to maintain balance, it is one of the physical fitness measures most closely linked to cognitive ability,” Blodgett said. Falls are the most common cause of injury-related deaths in people over the age of 75 and cost the NHS about 1 1 billion a year. Hip fractures are the most common cause of accidental death in the elderly. But despite their serious consequences, falls in later life are often dismissed as an inevitable part of aging. Blodgett said her findings, based on a study of 3,000 people by the MRC National Survey of Health and Development, a British birth cohort study, and published in the Journals of Gerontology, could allow targeted middle-aged interventions to protect people in later life. Balancing ability is based on cognitive information processing from three directions, Blodgett said. First, from what we see. Second, what our body feels through movement and position, and third, the stimulation that is recognized by our inner ear and fed back to the brain. “Simple cognitive tests could identify people at risk of poor balance, providing opportunities for both control and intervention,” he said. “Understanding these correlations earlier in middle age, either before or in the early stages of decline, is particularly important in preventing or mitigating the loss of independent mobility. No previous study had examined age-related changes between specific cognitive processes and middle-aged balance, Blodgett said, nor did it examine the reciprocal adaptation of multiple cognitive measures. “Therefore, many of the findings of our study are new,” he said. Blodgett’s inquiry was welcomed by Age UK Policy Director Dr Lis Boulton, who said it should be included in the NHS Health Screening for adults in England aged 40 to 74. “Balance the risk in later life and then give them targeted advice in the form of balance exercises,” he said. Dawn Skelton, a professor of Aging and Health at Glasgow Caledonian University, said the work was insightful. “Balance is not just about the strength of your legs or core,” he said. “It also concerns you, your mental capacity and your brain, and how well your brain knows which muscles to turn on and off at what time and how fast, and which part to turn to keep yourself awake. “You have to have a lot of things happening in the brain to be able to deal with it.”
