Education and meditation reduce the risk of brain degeneration

Researchers attending the Alzheimer's Association International Conference on Thursday said meditation and education can help prevent or reduce brain degenerative diseases.

University of Tasmania researchers say there are currently 245,000 Australians living with Alzheimer's disease and that is the leading cause of disability for people older than 65 in the country.

With the ongoing aging, there will be about 1,130,000 people in Australia who are expected to get sick by 2050 and that is a huge challenge for the country's health system.

In the past 18 months, Matthew Summers and scientists from Tasmania University of Psychology have conducted a study of the relations of education to age-related decline and dementia.

Scientists say their research has shown that older people and older people need to do things that are stimulating to prevent or delay Alzheimer's disease. And researchers also said that it is necessary to develop classes for older people to enhance cognitive activities to combat the disease.

According to scientists, those classes can keep the minds of participants in an active state. And the advantages of education programs at universities or colleges for older people are making them feel part of those activities.

However, scientists said, they still have not proved the conclusions above and need to study more carefully. And they also announced to Xinhua that there is not any "magic pill" that can fight Alzheimer's disease and the cause of this incurable disease needs to be discovered first.

"So we think in the near future, before drugs are found, we need to do something to prevent or reduce dementia rates ," said Summer, author of research claimed.

Dharma Singh Khalsa, an author of the Alzheimer's and Prevention Foundation in Tucson, Arizona, said that education should be promoted to prevent the disease.

He also provided a meditation technique called "Kirtan Kriya" , using singing and massage for only 12 minutes a day. These exercises will reduce the effects of stress, including 'cortisol', a stress-causing hormonal metabolite.

In studies of brain scans of Kirtan practitioner Kriya, Khalsa said, there have been positive results in reducing risk factors for high blood pressure and depression.

Therefore, scientists find that education and meditation will be the best factors that can help prevent or reduce brain degeneration.