By Staff Writer - December, 3rd 2013

New research shows that meditative exercises designed to reduce stress may help reduce the progression of Alzheimer's disease.

US researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) evaluated adults between the ages of 55 and 90 in some of whom had been diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment.

“We know that approximately 50% of people diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment – the intermediate stage between the expected declines of normal ageing and the more serious cognitive deterioration associated with dementia – may develop dementia within five years. And unfortunately, we know there are currently no FDA approved medications that can stop that progression,” says lead author Rebecca Erwin Wells, MD, MPH, who conducted her research as a fellow in Integrative Medicine at BIDMC and Harvard Medical School.

“We also know that as people age, there’s a high correlation between perceived stress and Alzheimer’s disease, so we wanted to know if stress reduction through meditation might improve cognitive reserve.”

For the study, which was published in Neuroscience …

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