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Track Your Progress!
Track your micro resolution and continue on with all our past mini resolutions, too. Use our new log to to track your progress! Questions? Email your Motivated Mondays Coach Michele at [email protected]. If you are new to Motivated Mondays, you can review the 2025 content here. Hearing Loss Awareness Hello and happy Monday! We’re concluding our month of micro resolutions with an important brain-brawn topic: Raising Hearing Loss Awareness. Why? It is estimated that 26.8% of adults over age 65 have hearing loss. Left untreated, hearing loss can lead to social isolation (a known risk factor for dementia), depression, anxiety, falls and reduced mobility. Furthermore, hearing loss has been linked to dementia. In the 80s, it was learned that patients with Alzheimer’s Disease ( a type of dementia) had twice the prevalence of hearing loss. Since then, studies continue to demonstrate the risk of dementia is higher in patients with hearing loss compared to healthy control groups, and greater hearing loss corresponds to a higher risk of cognitive decline. This has been observed in people as young as 55 years of age. Exact pathophysiology is under debate, but the current thinking is that hearing loss leads to structural and functional brain changes. Importantly, scientists estimate that if we could completely prevent or successfully treat hearing loss, we might be able to reduce the total number of dementia cases by 9% in the general population. What can we do to stave off hearing loss and, thus, cognitive decline? Hearing loss is considered a modifiable age-related condition because we can often prevent it or get ahead of it. Unfortunately, it is common for people with initial hearing difficulties to chalk it up to advancing age. In fact, the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) states that on average, people endure seven years of hearing loss before seeking treatment. So let’s raise awareness and assess our own hearing! Try this NIH survey. If the survey indicates a need for an evaluation OR if you have concerns about your hearing, contact your concierge physician and discuss the need for a hearing assessment. You can locate an audiologist in your area by contacting the American Academy of Audiology. However, Medicare has limitations on patient self-referrals for audiology, so it is best to obtain a physician referral for Medicare coverage. In 2022, the FDA created greater access to hearing aids by allowing them to be sold direct to consumers in store or online. An NIH study found providing hearing aids to those at risk for dementia could reduce the rate of cognitive decline by 50%. If it turns out you need hearing assistance, you can purchase hearing aids at your local pharmacy or even on Amazon, ranging in price from $99-$3000. Keep in mind at this time, original Medicare does not cover hearing aids or fittings. This concludes a month of micro resolutions. If you have any questions about anything we covered this month, please reach out! Otherwise, we’ll see you next week for a special edition of Motivated Mondays!
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Click here to view in your browser with graphics Good morning and welcome to the third week of August’s brain brawn micro resolutions! This week we’re focusing on:
Week 1: Music and Art Therapy Week 2: Social Engagement Week 3: Lifelong Learning Week 4: Hearing Loss Track Your Progress! Track your micro resolution and continue on with all our past mini resolutions, too. Use our new log to to track your progress! Questions? Email your Motivated Mondays Coach Michele at [email protected]. If you are new to Motivated Mondays, you can review the 2025 content here. Lifelong Learning When you tied your shoes this morning, did you give it any thought? When you cracked an egg, did you notice the motion? What about zipping your jacket, buttoning your shirt, or shifting the car into reverse before backing out of the driveway? Chances are, you didn’t. Most of the small actions that fill our days run on autopilot, guided by muscle memory. But can you think back to how challenging it was to learn these day-to-day activities? Maybe you even recall your own child hitting these milestones or are now witnessing it all with a grandchild! Every time we learn something new, the brain rewires itself—chemically, at the cellular level, and even in its physical structure. This process of remodeling happens not only when we’re learning, but also in response to injury, such as a stroke. We’ve talked about this before—it’s known as brain plasticity. This week, your micro resolution is to challenge yourself to rewire your brain by learning something new! When we are young and everything is new, plasticity is high! But brain plasticity diminishes with advancing age because of that “autopilot” nature in which we eventually tend to operate. There was a time when it was believed that brain plasticity wasn’t possible after a certain age but now, thanks to the work of Dr. Marion Diamond, we know that is not true. The brain can be rewired in adulthood—it just requires that stimulation of learning something new and sufficiently difficult. Continuing to learn later in life can contribute to “cognitive reserves,” protecting against age related cognitive decline. A recent study found that adults aged 65 and older who took part in an educational class or training at least once a month were able to delay cognitive decline by as much as six years. Science-Backed Ideas for Learning Something New Here are some research-backed ideas to jump-start your learning!
What About Brain Games? No conversation about lifelong learning and brain health would be complete without touching on “brain games.” There’s no shortage of options—from classic crossword puzzles and mahjong to high-tech video games marketed to slow cognitive decline. But here’s the catch: scientists still debate whether these games actually work or are more hype than help. After combing through the research, we can’t make a definitive call either way—except to say that keeping your mind active is always a good thing. So, if you love crossword puzzles or sudoku, keep at it. If a weekly card game with friends is your thing, fantastic. And if you’re curious (and have the budget) for computer-based brain games like Lumosity, give them a try. Just remember watching Jeopardy doesn’t count. In fact, spending more than 3.5 hours a day watching TV has been linked to cognitive decline. We’ll see you next week for our final micro resolution! Good morning and welcome to the second week of August’s brain brawn micro resolutions!
As a reminder, we are tackling a different lifestyle modification each week in August. Last Monday, we examined engaging with art and music as two non-pharmaceutical interventions known to positively influence certain symptoms in neurodegenerative conditions, including: behavioral symptoms (agitation), and psychological symptoms (depression and anxiety), memory, and socialization. And that last benefit, socialization, bridges the conversation to this week’s topic: social engagement. Week 1: Music and Art Therapy Week 2: Social Engagement Week 3: Lifelong Learning Week 4: Hearing Loss Track Your Progress! Track your micro resolution and continue on with all our past mini resolutions, too. Use our new log to to track your progress! Questions? Email your Motivated Mondays Coach Michele at [email protected]. If you are new to Motivated Mondays, you can review the 2025 content here. Combatting Social Isolation and Loneliness Many of our micro resolutions are tied to group activities that can foster a sense of community. Examples include taking exercises classes, cooking and exploring art or music. This week, we’re asking you to extend yourself to someone who may be lonely or isolated. We are fairly confident this selfless act will be just as beneficial for you as the person you’re helping! Isolation is described as the objective reality of truly existing with a deficit of social bonds. Loneliness is described as the subjective experience where an individual may be surrounded by people but does not feel connected and supported. Unfortunately, the number of people socially disconnected has risen steadily since the pandemic. Consider the people you know who may have recently lost a pet or spouse, a neighbor who lives alone, a quiet coworker, etc. Identify someone who may appreciate the gesture and invite that person for a walk or a cup of coffee, drop off a home-cooked meal and have a chat with them, invite them for a game of cards—or something else that piques your interest, and theirs. On Social Isolation, Loneliness and Cognitive Decline You may be asking why we are resolving to reach out to someone who may be isolated or lonely as a means to combat cognitive decline. It’s not the cup of coffee or the home-cooked meal itself that will combat cognitive decline, per say, but the act of enjoying it with another person. While the terms isolation and loneliness are not synonymous, both can have similarly harmful effects on mental and physical health. Each is associated with increased stress, depression, and anxiety, and these challenges are often compounded by unhealthy lifestyle choices such as smoking, physical inactivity, and poor sleep. In fact, feeling disconnected has been compared to the health risks of smoking 15 cigarettes a day. Research underscores the seriousness of these effects. A recent Johns Hopkins study found that socially isolated adults have a 27% higher risk of developing dementia. Similarly, an analysis of Framingham Study data revealed that participants under age 80 who lacked the APOE4 allele but identified as lonely had a threefold increased risk of developing dementia over a 10-year period. As with many associations, the precise biological mechanisms remain unclear, but there are several biological indicators worth examining:
All these biological indicators are associated with cognitive decline and neurodegeneration. Interestingly, research now indicates this association may be bidirectional. Specifically, lack of social connections or community may drive cognitive decline, and vice versa (cognitive decline may also drive social isolation). As for the latter of the two, the thinking is that those facing cognitive decline may lack confidence in their social skills and thus wall themselves off. That’s all for now. We’ll see you next week for our next micro resolution! Good morning and welcome to August! We are taking a slightly different approach to our monthly mini resolutions this August with four different brain brawn micro resolutions for the month—a new one in each week—instead of one overarching resolution:
Week 1: Music and Art Therapy Week 2: Social Engagement Week 3: Lifelong Learning Week 4: Hearing Loss Track Your Progress! Track your micro resolution and continue on with all our past mini resolutions, too. Use our new log to to track your progress! Questions? Email your Motivated Mondays Coach Michele at [email protected]. If you are new to Motivated Mondays, you can review the 2025 content here. A Music & Art Therapy Brain Brawn We’re kicking off the month with music and art therapy—two non-pharmaceutical interventions with a long history of positively influencing certain symptoms in neurodegenerative conditions. Music and art therapy have been shown to improve behavioral symptoms, like agitation, and psychological symptoms, depression and anxiety, in addition to enhancing memory and encouraging socialization. You can see these benefits by being an observer or by holding a paintbrush or musical instrument! We’re kicking off the month with music and art therapy—two non-pharmaceutical interventions with a long history of positively influencing certain symptoms in neurodegenerative conditions. Music and art therapy have been shown to improve behavioral symptoms, like agitation, and psychological symptoms, depression and anxiety, in addition to enhancing memory and encouraging socialization. You can see the benefits by being an observer or by holding a paintbrush or musical instrument! Fascinatingly, music and art have been described as the scaffolding between the deteriorating areas of the brain and the preserved areas! A 2023 meta-analysis of studies involving music and neurodegeneration found that 93% of the 107 studies analyzed demonstrated at least one benefit of music on neurodegenerative conditions. While the exact molecular mechanism between music, art and neurodegeneration isn’t completely understood, we do know this: Music Therapy Mechanism of Action Musical training can induce brain plasticity. Specifically, music acts as a stimulus, causing adaptive structural and functional changes in the brain. This can be as extensive as aiding in stroke recovery or as simple as learning something new. This concept was tapped into by the Saturday Morning cartoon, Schoolhouse Rock. Listening to or playing music can stimulate the release of the neurotransmitter, dopamine, which helps regulate learning, memory processing and cognitive function. Music can stimulate autobiographical memory. Indeed, this connection is often resistant to decline. Known Brain Benefits of Art Therapy Art (in particular, via collage making) can enhance memory recall. Art can also reinforce sustained attention and intellectual engagement. Art can encourage bottom-up and top-down cognitive processing—two different theories about how the brain processes information delivered via the senses. Top-down processing is when the brain takes in the information as a whole and breaks it down to the smallest, minor aspects. Bottom-up processing refers to the idea that individual elements are taken in, one by one, and pieced together to create the entire structure as it is seen. Remarkably, music can even epigenetically influence genes! This is known as “sensogenomics,” meaning music can turn on certain genes. In this context, these genes may protect memory and cognition. So what does this mean for those of us wishing to ward off neurodegenerative conditions? It means that enjoying the arts, either as a participant or an observer, may be beneficial for the structure and processing of the cognitive function of the brain. It also means we can potentially create a reservoir of memories accessible to us via the arts. This week, let’s resolve to try one of the following: ART TRIAL IT:
COMMIT TO IT:
MUSIC TRIAL IT:
COMMIT TO IT:
How do we connect music and art to our memories? Make a collage. It may have been decades since you last cut up old magazines to create a vision board or tell a story about your life, but now is the perfect time to revisit that creative tradition. Gather glue, glitter, magazines, and photos, and craft collages themed around a special person, a group of people, or a meaningful chapter in your life. You might also try making a memory jar—and decorate the outside with your collage, then fill the inside with trinkets or keepsakes that remind you of the person or time you’re honoring. Better yet, invite the people connected to those memories to join you. Share stories, laugh, cry, and enjoy each other’s company as you deepen your collective memory bank. Another idea: create playlists tied to a particular person or period in your life. You can journal your reflections as you listen or play the music while working on your collage or jar for extra inspiration. Side note: If you’re a caregiver for someone with a neurodegenerative condition, consider exploring Meet Me at MoMA, a program offered by the Museum of Modern Art in New York. While it’s designed for local New Yorkers, MoMA also provides written materials so other museums can replicate the program in their own communities. We hope you’re feeling inspired! We’ll see you next week for our next microresolution! |
MICHELE MCCAMBRIDGE, MPH, MSMichele is the Senior VP of Membership Development at Concierge Choice Physicians. She is also a professional in the areas of nutrition, fitness and wellness. Archives
November 2025
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