Feng shui master Judy Famiglietti did yoga, practiced Pilates,sought Reiki massage and meditated 15 minutes a day.
But the svelte baby boomer from Sherman Oaks wasn't content to bejust fit and calm. Fuzzy thinking meant she needed mental workouts,too.
'I used to forget lists at the grocery store,' Famiglietti saidduring a Brain Gym 101 session conducted by Barbara Schwartz atEquilibrium in Encino.
'In my family, we're really obsessed with being fit, mentally andphysically. Perfection is high on the list ... and I have sharpenedmy mental abilities.'
It's no longer enough for middle-age Angelenos to tone theirbodies, Botox their brows and toss out the trans fats in their questfor vitality.
Across the nation, those born in the 20 years after World War IIare popularizing everything from 'brain-healthy' foods to virtualbrain gyms in an effort to retain their cognitive edge and stave offdementia.
'We're baby boomers, and we don't want it to happen to us,' saidSheryle Bolton, chief executive officer of Quixit Inc., of Oakland,whose HappyNeuron.com launched last fall.
'We started the fitness craze. We've learned a lot aboutnutrition. And now it's time to learn about mental exercise.'
Nintendo's Brain Age video game, for instance, offers math-and-word challenges, while California-based Web sites such asMyBrainTrainer.com and HappyNeuron.com supply cranial calisthenicsto a generation that hatched the fitness and nutrition movements.
AARP and other 50-plus advocates offer brain health tips, whilethe Alzheimer's Association conducts Maintain Your Brain workshopsfor such corporations as Lockheed Martin and Apple Computer.
Brain health has even become the darling of health insurers.
MetLife offers a 61-page booklet called 'Love Your Brain,' whileHumana plans to offer brain fitness software to millions of grayingclients.
With Americans now living longer and the first wave of the 78million baby boomers approaching 60, many hope such noggin-builderswill ward off memory problems.
'The difficult fact to face is that baby boomers are gettingolder at the same time,' said Barbara Goen, spokeswoman for theAlzheimer's Association of California Southland.
'It is going to have a catastrophic effect if we don't make someprogress in solving the problem of Alzheimer's disease.'
Millions affected
The degenerative brain disease affects an estimated 4.5 millionAmericans -- more than double the number in 1980 -- including one in10 persons older than 65 and nearly half of those older than 85.
Research has shown that an estimated 40 percent of those 65 andolder have some level of age-associated memory loss.
Without a cure, up to 16 million Americans are expected to sufferfrom Alzheimer's by mid-century, according to the Alzheimer'sAssociation.
For overall brain health, AARP and health experts recommendregular exercise, staying mentally active and eating a balanced dietrich in antioxidants and omega-3 fatty acids.
To determine whether brain exercise can actually ward off flabbyminds, dozens of studies are in the works. However, there already isgrowing evidence that it does.
Previous studies have shown that animals kept in cages full oftoys had better memories and more brain cells than those housed inmore mundane environments.
And research has long shown that mental exercise in people canimprove test scores while crossword puzzles and reading can keep themind sharp.
A new study suggests that brain exercise strengthens the abilityof seniors to think more clearly and to perform everyday tasksneeded to live independently.
Healthy seniors with only 10 hours of classes to improve theirreasoning reported significantly less trouble with cooking, shoppingand other routine activities.
The study, published Dec. 20 in the Journal of the AmericanMedical Association, showed that cognitive training still broughtbenefits five years later.
'There is mounting evidence that cognitive exercise may protectour brains,' said Dr. Gary W. Small, a professor of geriatricpsychiatry and director of the UCLA Center on Aging and the Memory &Aging Research Center.
'We know specific exercises in certain brain functions definitelyhave an effect. The question is, if you do your mental aerobics,will brain exercise stave off Alzheimer's?
'There is softer evidence that it does.'
Small, whose five-week Senior Memory Training courses at UCLACenter on Aging have drawn baby boomers to teaching sites across LosAngeles, has licensed it in a half-dozen states.
He has also designed Brain Games, a handheld computer gamescheduled to be released this month by Mattel.
Last year, Small led a UCLA study that found people could improvebrain function and efficiency with only two weeks of memoryexercises, along with healthy eating, physical fitness and stressreduction.
The study, published in the June issue of the American Journal ofGeriatric Psychiatry, centered on ages 35 to 69.
'There is definitely something to this,' Small said. 'We foundthat in a matter of two weeks, we cannot only improve memoryperformance, but improve mental efficiency as seen on brain scans.'
Entrepreneurs have pursued the boomer brain market with provensuccess.
In the past year, MyBrainTrainer.com has more than doubled itsmembership to 7,000 clients, company officials said.
'It's the Nautilus machine for the mind,' said Bruce Friedman,the Web site's founder. 'It's the ignition for your cognition.
'I definitely believe that more and more boomers are going to betaking these kind of preventative steps to ward off, or attempt toward off, dementia.'
Rod Evans, a 57-year-old author and philosophy professor, is anunlikely candidate for more mental stimulation.
He teaches classes at Old Dominion University in Virginia and haswritten 14 books, including 'The Gilded Tongue,' a dictionary of'meretricious words guaranteed to impress your friends.' He riflesthrough flash cards daily to improve his word skills. And he playsBoggle, a Scrabble-like game for the brainy.
Keeping fit
To keep fit, he also exercises and lifts weights throughout theweek.
But when Evans discovered MyBrainTrainer.com two years ago, hefound himself mentally working out up to three times a day online.
'I feel energized,' said Evans, of Norfolk, Va., whose family hasno known history of dementia. 'It helps me wake up. It makes me feelgood.
'I want to reduce the possibility, or at the very least, to delaysenility.'
For the past 20 years, Schwartz has conducted Brain Gym sessionsat her Encino home. Founded by Brain Gym International in Ventura,the technique aims to improve the mind through 26 exercises.
During a recent session, Schwartz went through a litany ofexercises with Famiglietti, who once stumbled at rememberingpeoples' names. She signed up in August for Brain Gym sessions thatcost $125 and up.
'Feel complete?,' asked Schwartz, in a room redolent of sweetaromatherapy oils.
'Yeah, I feel much better,' said the feng shui consultant whose80-year-old mother can still whip the most challenging crossword andSoduku puzzles.
'I'm hoping the DNA will kick in, that the gene pool will stay onmy side and that I can preserve what I have with the exercises thatI'm doing.'
The New York Times News Service contributed to this report.
dana.bartholomew(at)dailynews.com
(818) 713-3730
On the Net: For more information on brain health, go to http://www.alzla.org; www.aarp.org; www.aging.ucla.edu.;www.mybraintrainer.com; www.happy-neuron.com; www.braingym.org; andwww.equilibriumhealing.com.
