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SUBJ: Brain training still effective after 10 yrs. Also: Green tea and sleep recommendations

 See past newsletters here

SHORT NOTES: Green tea has more benefit than EGCG;  Sleep durations more than 8 or less than 6hrs as well as regular snoring at midlife were associated with lower odds of healthy aging in later life;  3 types of training for memory, speed, and reasoning all worked, and the benefits could still be detected 10 years after the training was completed; Senescent cells are cells in your body no longer capable of dividing whose metabolism has broken down enough that they are not functional, and they are both harmful and useful; Glycine and N‐acetylcysteine (GlyNAC) supplementation relieved oxidative stress in a small trial with older adults (Mito-C does this, too).

LONG NOTES

More cognitive benefits from theanine in green tea (and mushrooms). This
is notable since most green tea extracts emphasize only the EGCG. “l-theanine has been previously reported to have a neuroprotective effect.” So this also will be protective against AD.   https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/jmf.2020.480

Sleep durations more than 8 or less than 6hrs as well as regular snoring at midlife were associated with lower odds of healthy aging in later life.
https://www.dovepress.com/article_63135.t133670396

From my heartline clinical trial, I learned that the ACTIVE brain clinical trial at NIH proved that 3 types of training for memory, speed, and reasoning all worked, and the benefits could still be detected 10 years after the training was completed.  ten 60–75 minute sessions over 5 to 6 weeks. The memory test consists of three trials of free-recall of a 12-item, semantically categorized list, followed by yes/no recognition. . In the reasoning test, the subject is shown a series of letters and must select the next letter in the series from five letter choices.  Speed test is pg 26 here. https://www.ets.org/Media/Research/pdf/Manual_for_Kit_of_Factor-Referenced_Cognitive_Tests.pdf

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3934012/

Reader question: I haven’t read the article you pointed to, but have a question as to exactly what they mean by “cellular senescence”. ANSWER: Senescent cells are cells in your body no longer capable of dividing whose metabolism has broken down enough that they are not functional. They do continue to produce inflammatory molecules.  Nutritional methods are known that remove senescent cells. But the article shared last newsletter indicates that removing these cells may cause others to divide increasing the risk of cancer.  So senescent cells are currently a dilemma, they are both harmful and useful.

Glycine and N‐acetylcysteine (GlyNAC) supplementation relieved oxidative stress in a small trial with older adults. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ctm2.372