How to stay sharp – Umeå researcher Lars Nyberg on lifelong brain health

Voices and footsteps fill the corridor outside the lecture hall Aula Biologica on Campus Umeå. Students heading to today’s lectures quickly walk past Black Box, the sculpture by Fredrik Strid. Surrounded by students busily stuffing their heads with knowledge, this is the perfect setting for a meeting with brain researcher Lars Nyberg.

Nyberg is a professor of neuroscience at the Department of Diagnostics and Intervention and the Department of Medical and Translational Biology at Umeå University. He is also one of the world’s leading researchers in neuroscience, according to a ranking by Stanford University. This is not something he would mention himself. He would rather talk about a talk he recently gave to an audience at the library in Vindeln outside of Umeå.

Nyberg’s journey began in Bollstabruk in the province of Ångermanland, where he was born and raised. This small town, next to Bollstafjärden along the Ångermanälven River, was characterised by forests and the forestry industry. He attended high school in Kramfors and, then, because he liked living in northern Sweden, he chose to continue his studies at Umeå University. He applied and was accepted to the clinical psychology programme.

Lars Nyberg, professor of neuroscience, has spent much of his life studying the brain.

ImageMattias Pettersson

“Even as an undergraduate, I felt that research would be both exciting and fun. So, I started working a little on the side as a research assistant, which gave me the opportunity to conduct experiments. That’s what really got me hooked on research.”

Brain imaging and memory research

After defending his thesis on memory functions, he did his postdoc in Toronto, Canada, with the now-deceased Endel Tulving, professor of psychology and cognitive neuroscience. Since then, the brain and its functions have been the unifying theme of his research.

“Modern brain imaging technology began to emerge in the form of PET (Positron Emission Tomography) cameras, which allowed us to take a closer look at the brain and see how it works when actually being used.”

When Nyberg returned to Sweden, he wanted to continue developing methods for brain imaging in Umeå.

“Together with colleagues at the University and the University Hospital of Umeå, we began building a new research environment from scratch, and our brain imaging centre (UFBI) was founded in 2001. When the opportunity arose to apply for a professorship in neuroscience with a focus on brain imaging, I applied and was appointed to the position in 2005.”

A hot topic in brain research is what is known as “brain maintenance,” which is about how to maintain good brain health. “A large part of our current research focuses on understanding what can stimulate maintenance of brain and memory functions,” says Lars Nyberg.

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Betula – a unique research project

Since the 1980s, Nyberg has been one of the researchers in a unique and wide-ranging research project called ‘Betula – aging, memory and dementia’, and he has led the project for many years. Betula is Latin for birch and the project name was inspired by the epithet ‘Umeå – the city of birches’. A broad representation of the population is included in the project. Over a 30-year period, researchers have followed around 4,500 Umeå residents, testing how their memory changes over time in relation to health and a variety of other variables.

The fact that our findings indicate the impact of aging starts 30 years later than previously believed is usually a source of amusement when we describe our findings.

Among other things, they have made an important discovery: episodic memory – which helps us recognise each other, remember each other’s names and remember where we parked the car at the supermarket, for example – begins to deteriorate much later in life than previously thought. It is only around the age of 60 that deterioration is noticeable. Previously, it was thought that this occurred as early as 25 to 30 of age.

“The fact that our findings indicate the impact of aging starts 30 years later than previously believed is usually a source of amusement when we describe our findings. It pays to be persistent and focus on longitudinal studies.”

One thing that surprised Nyberg during the course of the project is the large variation in memory functions between individuals of the same age.

“Although memory begins to deteriorate on average in our 60s, we also see that some 75- to 85-year-olds can have just as good, or even better, memory than 35- to 40-year-olds. These are popularly known as ‘superagers’. Superagers are people who still have well maintained memory and good functions overall well into old age.”

Physical activity has a positive effect on brain aging. Researchers have been able to show this.

ImageJohnér bildbyrå AB/Jonas Gunnarsson

Now we know that what is good for the heart is likely also good for the brain.

Superagers are the focus of an ongoing project where researchers are working with colleagues from Norway and the United States to trying to understand which factors contribute to well-maintained brain and memory functions.

Have you found the secret of superagers?

“Genetics, that is, what we are born with, undoubtedly plays an important role in much of life, but modifiable factors, those that we can possibly influence ourselves, are also very interesting. One example is physical activity.

While we now hear about it almost daily in the media, previously the connection between physical activity and brain health was not as clear. Now we know that what is good for the heart is likely also good for the brain. Physical activity can affect blood supply, help us maintain the cells we already have, and perhaps even stimulate the formation of new cells.”

What role does diet play?

“Yes, that’s interesting, because in interviews with older adults who have lived for 90 years or more, many spontaneously answer that it is precisely diet that is the secret behind a long life with good brain health. But what diet you believe in can vary, from sushi and fish and chips to rice porridge and oatmeal.

Is diet one of the secrets to a long life and a good memory? Many of the older adults interviewed by the researchers believe so.

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In research, omega 3 and fatty fish have been highlighted as good for the brain. There is also talk about certain vitamins, blueberries, and turmeric. Diet and exercise appear to positively affect our blood values and benefit the brain and memory in similar ways. But we are not really able to say with certainty what constitutes a good diet.”

What is the importance of sleep?

“Sleep plays a big role for the brain. It is crucial for consolidating memories and for the brain’s own cleaning system, the glymphatic system, to function optimally. There is evidence that this system works best when we sleep, but this is an active field of research where much remains to be discovered.

Sleep is an important factor for memory, especially when we are learning something new. For example, if you are learning to play tennis, what you learn needs to be processed in the brain, which rewires itself to consolidate the new knowledge. This is called consolidating memories, and a lot of this process happens when we sleep. The amount of sleep you need, though, is individual. Maybe somewhere between five and nine hours, more sleep than that does not offer additional benefits.”

Does solving sudoku puzzles or using our brain in a similar way help our brain and memory?

“People often do things that we are already good at. If you have always been good at crossword puzzles, you will likely continue to solve them even as you get older. So, what you need to do is scale up the difficulty level so that it becomes challenging or begin practicing something that you’re not that good at, such as learning a new language.”

Do you want to keep your brain sharp? Do something new, like learning a new language.

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Moving forward, Nyberg hopes to help fill in the knowledge gaps around how we can prevent and treat age-related diseases that affect the brain, such as dementia. As the population ages, this type of research becomes increasingly important.

“Children born in Umeå today have a life expectancy of almost a hundred years. Life expectancy has increased dramatically since the 1850s, making it urgent to study how people can live a good life with brain and memory functions intact even longer into old age.”

When researchers know more about what increases the risk of age-related diseases and how these could be prevented and treated, we will likely be able to postpone the processes that cause our brain and memory functions to deteriorate.

According to new research findings, 40–45 per cent of dementia cases can be prevented through modifiable lifestyle factors, and researchers have proposed some dozen factors that may be relevant. Some of these are smoking, obesity, depression, physical inactivity, diabetes, high alcohol consumption, and social isolation. Previously, education was considered a protective factor for memory and aging, but this does not appear to be the case.

Does memory deteriorate more slowly if you have a high level of education and more quickly if you have a lower level of education?

“From what we have seen in several large studies, the answer is no. Memory changes at a similar rate regardless of educational level. But education affects memory functions at a younger age, and by starting at a higher level, it can take longer until you reach a critical level where memory no longer works well. While this might seem like a negative for highly educated individuals, it’s positive for people in general, especially if you haven’t had the opportunity to attend higher education at a young age.”

Future challenges

Lars Nyberg’s research is not just about brain and memory functions in older adults. The younger generation is also in focus. Specifically, he is looking at learning in children and young people and how certain educational methods can improve learning in school.

“Through our research, we have been able to focus on a particular method that benefits all students. It involves testing yourself while learning something. Known as test-based learning, it complements and enriches the usual method of reading material over and over again. Self-testing, where you find out what you know and don’t know from material early in the process, benefits learning and makes it more sustainable over time.”

According to research, all students can benefit from a method that is based on testing their knowledge early in the learning process.

ImageJohnér Bildbyrå AB, Maskot Bildbyrå AB

The research team collaborates with schools in the Umeå region to bring the latest research to teachers and students, and for those who want to learn more about the method, Nyberg and Umeå researcher Bert Jonsson have written a book about test-based learning and how to improve learning and memory.

Despite decades of research, Nyberg feels far from done.

“The brain is a bit like space – we can always go deeper and learn more and understand both risk factors for disease and what protects the brain. There is still much we do not know.”

Watch a video in which Lars Nyberg talks more about the brain and his research. (To view English subtitles, click on the cogwheel icon, then select "undertexter" "engelska".)