SAN ANTONIO — Playing a game on your phone can keep your brain healthy and sharp well into you senior years! That's the claim a KENS5 viewer asked reporter Jeremy baker to verify.
Along with a longer life-span comes a higher risk of dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Both of which have increasing numbers in the population. That leads us to tonight's Verify sent in by KENS5 viewer Michael Schaefer after he saw several ads about tonight's claim.
THE QUESTION
Is it true that playing certain games on your phone will lower your chance of getting Alzheimer's disease?
THE SOURCES
- Dr. Sudha Seshadri, a Professor of Neurology and director of the Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer's and Neurodegenerative Diseases at UT Health, San Antonio
- National Institutes of Health
THE ANSWER
FALSE
WHAT WE FOUND
Dr. Seshadri told us there is no known game or stimulus that is known to either prevent Alzheimer's or slow the rate of progression. She said, "What is true is that meaningful cognitive and social engagement, things like continuing to work, volunteer, whether this be in a setting that the person has been doing for many years or this is something that they begin like learning a new language, gardening, dancing."
In a study published by the National Institutes of Health that looked at 909 participants with mild cognitive impairment or dementia, the results said, "Meta-analysis findings suggest that brain gaming compared to control group does not show significant improvement in standardized tests of cognitive function."
So no, it is false. Playing certain games on your phone will not lower your chance of getting Alzheimer's disease. Dr. Seshadri added using our brain keeps our brain resilient, but doesn't completely prevent the development of disease, but slows the progression.
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