Lifestyle Changes for Cognitive Health: Where it all Began.

The Finnish Geriatric Intervention Study to Prevent Cognitive Impairment and Disability (FINGER) is widely recognised as the first large-scale research initiative to demonstrate how comprehensive lifestyle interventions can effectively prevent cognitive decline.

What was Involved

FINGER included 1,259 individuals aged 60 to 77 who were at risk of cognitive decline but had not yet developed dementia. The intervention group received intensive lifestyle interventions to enhance diet, increase physical activity, engage in regular cognitive exercises and monitor vascular health.

The Results

After two years, the intervention group showed a significant improvement in cognitive abilities:

• 25% improvement in overall cognitive performance compared to the control group.

• 83% improvement in executive functions, such as problem-solving and planning, in the intervention group compared to the control.

• 150% improvement in processing speed, indicating quicker cognitive responses than the control group.

• Noticeable improvements to memory.

This landmark study laid the foundation for understanding that proactive lifestyle changes make a difference to not only improving cognitive health today but helping to preserve cognitive health for the future.

The FINGER study, while a great step forward, however only addressed a few lifestyle factors - a kind of "vanilla version" of what’s possible.

Imagine what the results could be when all the key pillars of cognitive health are included.

Read the full FINGER study research paper here.