Low Estradiol Levels and Cognitive Function

Researchers writing in the medical journal Neurobiology of Aging, say that “Older women with low estradiol levels were more likely to experience decline in global cognitive function and verbal memory, and a similar trend was observed for verbal memory in men.”

Yaffe K, Barnes D, Lindquist K, Cauley J, Simonsick EM, Penninx B, Satterfield S, Harris T, Cummings SR. Endogenous sex hormone levels and risk of cognitive decline in an older biracial cohort. Neurobiol Aging. 2007 Feb;28(2):171-8.
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Sleep

Sleep and Diabetes Risk in Men Is Testosterone Also Involved?
Researchers writing in the medical journal Diabetes Care say that too little or too much sleep increases diabetes risk. The researchers say that men getting 5 to 6 hours of sleep a night were twice as likely to develop diabetes, men getting more than 8 hours were three times more likely to develop diabetes. They also noted that testosterone may be a factor in sleep on diabetes.

Poor Sleep and Cognitive Function
Researchers writing in the medical journal The Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences say that Disturbed Sleep was related to poorer cognition.

Hot Flashes and Insomnia
Researchers writing in the Archives of Internal Medicine say: “Severe hot flashes are strongly associated with chronic insomnia in midlife women. The presence of hot flashes should be systematically investigated in women with insomnia. Treating hot flashes could improve sleep quality and minimize the deleterious consequences of chronic insomnia.”

Hot Flashes and Sleep
Researchers writing in the medical journal Menopause say that ambient temperature and REM sleep patterns effect sleep in postmenopausal women.

Warm Feet and Sleep
Researchers writing in the medical journal Physiology and Behavior say they “present new data indicating age- and insomnia-related changes in the sleep-onset latency response to foot warming, and evaluate whether different methods of foot warming could provide an applicable strategy to address sleep complaints.”

Postmenopause and Cognitive Performance

Researchers writing in the medical journal Maturitas look into the nature of cognitive decline across a range of functions within a period of 5 years from early to late postmenopausal stage.

Elsabagh S, Hartley DE, File SE. Cognitive function in late versus early postmenopausal stage.
Maturitas. 2007 Jan 20;56(1):84-93.

CONCLUSIONS: Although there were no differences in attention, verbal fluency and memory, executive function was significantly poorer in the late postmenopausal stage women, suggesting that this aspect of cognition deteriorates more rapidly than other functions. This change was independent of change in age, suggesting that hormonal changes between the early and late postmenopausal stages may be responsible.

Poor Sleep and Cognitive Function

Blackwell T, Yaffe K, Ancoli-Israel S, Schneider JL, Cauley JA, Hillier TA, Fink HA, Stone KL. Poor Sleep Is Associated With Impaired Cognitive Function in Older Women: The Study of Osteoporotic Fractures. The Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences 61:405-410 (2006)

Researchers writing in the medical journal The Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences say that Disturbed Sleep was related to poorer cognition.

From the article abstract:
Background. The association between objectively measured sleep and cognition among community-dwelling elderly persons remains understudied. This observational, cross-sectional analysis examined this association.

Methods. Results are from 2932 women (mean age 83.5 years) in the Study of Osteoporotic Fractures between 2002 and 2004. Cognitive function was measured…Sleep parameters measured objectively using actigraphy included total sleep time, sleep efficiency, sleep latency, wake after sleep onset (WASO), and total nap time.

Conclusion. Objectively measured disturbed sleep was consistently related to poorer cognition, whereas total sleep time was not. This finding may suggest that it is disturbance of sleep rather than quantity that affects cognition.

Related Newsletter Items On Cognitive Function
Green Tea and Cognitive Function

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Sleep and Diabetes Risk in Men

Green Tea and Cognitive Function

Kuriyama S, Hozawa A, Ohmori K, Shimazu T, Matsui T, Ebihara S, Awata S, Nagatomi R, Arai H, Tsuji I. Green tea consumption and cognitive function: a cross-sectional study from the Tsurugaya Project. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 83, No. 2, 355-361, February 2006

Researchers writing in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition say that green tea consumption can improve cognitive function. The researchers measured the effects of drinking 3 cups a week, 4 to 6 cups a week, and two cups a day.

From the study abstract:
Background: “Although considerable experimental and animal evidence shows that green tea may possess potent activities of neuroprotection, neurorescue, and amyloid precursor protein processing that may lead to cognitive enhancement, no human data are available.”

Objective: “The objective was to examine the association between green tea consumption and cognitive function in humans.”

Results: “Higher consumption of green tea was associated with a lower prevalence of cognitive impairment.”

Conclusion: “A higher consumption of green tea is associated with a lower prevalence of cognitive impairment in humans.”

Eating Fish Slows Aging of the Brain

Study Published in the October 10, 2005 issue of the Archives of Neurology.
You can read the entire article here

In brief, researchers looked at people 65 years of age and over to see if intakes of fish and omega-3 fatty acids protected against “age-related cognitive decline.”

What did they find? Quoted from the article in the Archives of Neurology:
“Dietary intake of fish was inversely associated with cognitive decline over 6 years in this older, biracial community study.

The rate of decline was reduced by 10% to 13% per year among persons who consumed 1 or more fish meals per week compared with those with less than weekly consumption.

The rate reduction is the equivalent of being 3 to 4 years younger in age.

There were no consistent associations with the omega-3 fatty acids, although the effect estimates were in the direction of slower decline.”

Cognitive Function

Eating Fish Slows Aging of the Brain
In brief, researchers looked at people 65 years of age and over to see if intakes of fish and omega-3 fatty acids protected against “age-related cognitive decline.”

Green Tea and Cognitive Function
Researchers writing in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition say that green tea consumption can improve cognitive function. The researchers measured the effects of drinking 3 cups a week, 4 to 6 cups a week, and two cups a day.

Poor Sleep and Cognitive Function
Researchers writing in the medical journal The Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences say that Disturbed Sleep was related to poorer cognition.

Nutrition in Brain Development and Aging: Role of Essential Fatty Acids
Researchers writing in the the medical journal Nutrition Reviews say that essential fatty acids (EFAs) are increasingly seen to be of value in limiting the cognitive decline during aging.

Physical Function and Future Dementia
Medical researchers writing in the medical journal the Archives of Internal Medicine say that “Lower levels of physical performance were associated with an increased risk of dementia and AD (Alzheimer’s Disease)

Postmenopause and Cognitive Performance
Researchers writing in the medical journal Maturitas look into the nature of cognitive decline across a range of functions within a period of 5 years from early to late postmenopausal stage.

Low Estradiol Levels and Cognitive Function
Researchers writing in the medical journal Neurobiology of Aging, say that “Older women with low estradiol levels were more likely to experience decline in global cognitive function and verbal memory, and a similar trend was observed for verbal memory in men.”

Testosterone and Cognitive Function

A study in the European Journal of Endocrinology says “Low endogenous levels of testosterone may be related to reduced cognitive ability, and testosterone substitution may improve some aspects of cognitive ability.”

Beauchet O. Testosterone and cognitive function: current clinical evidence of a relationship. Beauchet O. Eur J Endocrinol. 2006 Dec;155(6):773-81.

BACKGROUND: Testosterone levels decline as men age, as does cognitive function. Whether there is more than a temporal relationship between testosterone and cognitive function is unclear. Chemical castration studies in men with prostate cancer suggest that low serum testosterone may be associated with cognitive dysfunction. Low testosterone levels have also been observed in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). This paper reviews the current clinical evidence of the relationship between serum testosterone levels and cognitive function in older men.

METHODS: A systematic literature search was conducted using PubMed and EMBASE to identify clinical studies and relevant reviews that evaluated cognitive function and endogenous testosterone levels or the effects of testosterone substitution in older men.

RESULTS: Low levels of endogenous testosterone in healthy older men may be associated with poor performance on at least some cognitive tests. The results of randomized, placebo-controlled studies have been mixed, but generally indicate that testosterone substitution may have moderate positive effects on selective cognitive domains (e.g. spatial ability) in older men with and without hypogonadism. Similar results have been found in studies in patients with existing AD or MCI.

CONCLUSIONS: Low endogenous levels of testosterone may be related to reduced cognitive ability, and testosterone substitution may improve some aspects of cognitive ability. Measurement of serum testosterone should be considered in older men with cognitive dysfunction. For men with both cognitive impairment and low testosterone, testosterone substitution may be considered. Large, long-term studies evaluating the effects of testosterone substitution on cognitive function in older men are warranted.