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Use your brain now and in varied ways to keep yourself mentally fit.

We have long been aware that people with higher levels of education seem to be less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease.

But there is now evidence to suggest that the amount of mental stimulation and learning in mid-life may be more crucial than university education. This suggests that you should not rely on a degree obtained twenty or thirty years ago when it comes to protecting your brain.

If you didn't go to college, you should stimulate your brain now so that it will be healthy and active throughout mid and later life.

Brain training really works, and its effects are long lasting. Researchers found that when people with an average age of 73 years received 10 brain training lessons, they did much better on thinking tests and reasoning skills, as well as processing new information and memory. The results of this brain training lasted for up to three years.

Playing mentally challenging games will help your brain to stay fit, and they're a fun way to relax while giving your brain a gentle workout. A thirty-year study of 700 nuns found that those who regularly played games and did crosswords were more likely to stay mentally alert as they aged.

There are a number of websites that offer challenging games that you can play for free. Try these to start with and then explore the Internet to find more.

• www.sudoku-puzzles.net/syndication.html
• www.bestcrosswords.com/bestcrosswords/Home.page
• www.uberarcade.com/zone/board_games.php

The Alzheimer Society of B.C. is watching for the development of research-tested mental fitness programs for people with dementia, and we will update this information in the near future. However, there is no reason why people with dementia should not try these sites as well!

Learning a new language - at any age - is an excellent way of increasing mental fitness. Some interesting studies by a team of Canadian researchers have found that the brains of bilingual people stay sharp for a longer period than those who speak only one language. It is thought that this benefit to bilingual people may come as a result of improved ability to shut out distractions.

In distraction tests done as part of the study, bilingual people in their 70s did noticeably better than monolingual people. Learning a new language requires intense focus, which promotes a really good workout for your brain. Using two languages also seems to bolster rapid decision-making, multi-tasking and perhaps even memory.

"Older bilingual people are better at paying close attention despite distractions," said Ellen Bialystok, researcher at Baycrest Research Centre for Aging and the Brain in Toronto.

When people are bilingual, she explained, they appear to get even greater protection, which seems to be linked to the fact that they must constantly decide which language to use and which to suppress. "That means you need a mechanism so that you're only drawing from the right pool (of words). It's going be a mechanism that works extremely fast...while you're producing sentences," added Bialystok.

• An interesting web site to visit to find out about learning a language on-line: http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/

To help you to set goals for your mental fitness program, download the Healthy Brain worksheet. Choose the level of challenge that works for your lifestyle now (Gold, Silver or Bronze), and make the commitment to yourself to increase the level when you can.

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