Maths tuition for brain health
Maths tuition aimed at increasing cognitive reserve in the hope to delay the onset of degenerative conditions such as dementia and Alzheimer's disease.
The material that I teach includes maths problems which are often better solved if the student has a range of suitable methods available to them. It's common for one way to be significantly more efficient than another and in some cases the problem can only be reasonably approached in one manner.
This leads me to believe that the ability to work with complex ideas fluently and find different solutions to the same problem would be useful in delaying the onset of degenerative diseases, including dementia, by building up "cognitive reserve". This idea was inspired when I learned about cases where patients experienced brain deterioration in line with Alzheimer's disease but showed no symptoms. Cognitive reserve has been put forward as one explanation for this here: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/some-people-have-alzheimers-without-symptoms-what-happens-in-their-brains
This link suggests that high cognitive reserve can delay the development of Alzheimer's Disease by around 5 years.
https://www.alzheimersresearchuk.org/dementia-information/dementia-risk/cognitive-reserve-and-dementia-risk/
Higher cognitive reserve predicts better cognitive function but an eventual sharper decline, according to these links:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11705083/#sup1
https://academic.oup.com/ageing/article/54/1/afae284/7944082
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6669930/
The link below is from the above paper and shows a graph of memory and executive function scores for different levels of cognitive reserve
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/core/lw/2.0/html/tileshop_pmc/tileshop_pmc_inline.html?title=Click%20on%20image%20to%20zoom&p=PMC3&id=6669930_NEUROLOGY2018946673FF2.jpg
General information:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3530293/
https://www.scielo.br/j/anp/a/Pn8CnqYqGRHKzy59mfZ5tCn/?lang=en
There are many ways to increase cognitive reserve, including (but not limited to):
Exercise
An active social life
Learning a language
Reading
Learning to play a musical instrument
Promoting good sleep
Adopting a healthy diet, potentially with more plant-based food
Painting
Effective stress management
Crosswords
Book clubs
Gardening
Learning a new skill, such as juggling
My idea for increasing cognitive reserve is to solve maths problems at a suitable level; accessible to the solver but still somewhat of a challenge. With my guidance, problems of a suitable level can be selected. The solver would work on them between lessons for discussion in a relaxed, friendly, sociable manner in tutorials. All levels of expertise would be welcome, from beginner to degree level.
My rates for this tuition are as follows:
For lessons in term time between 9am and 2:30pm £45 per hour
For lessons on Sunday afternoons and after 3pm on weekdays £55 per hour
Please note that I am not able to guarantee that this tuition would delay the onset of such diseases, but suggest that it would be a suitable way to build up cognitive reserve, along with good lifestyle choices.
Click here to contact me or book a tutorial.
Maths tuition aimed at increasing cognitive reserve in the hope to delay the onset of degenerative conditions such as dementia and Alzheimer's disease.
The material that I teach includes maths problems which are often better solved if the student has a range of suitable methods available to them. It's common for one way to be significantly more efficient than another and in some cases the problem can only be reasonably approached in one manner.
This leads me to believe that the ability to work with complex ideas fluently and find different solutions to the same problem would be useful in delaying the onset of degenerative diseases, including dementia, by building up "cognitive reserve". This idea was inspired when I learned about cases where patients experienced brain deterioration in line with Alzheimer's disease but showed no symptoms. Cognitive reserve has been put forward as one explanation for this here: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/some-people-have-alzheimers-without-symptoms-what-happens-in-their-brains
This link suggests that high cognitive reserve can delay the development of Alzheimer's Disease by around 5 years.
https://www.alzheimersresearchuk.org/dementia-information/dementia-risk/cognitive-reserve-and-dementia-risk/
Higher cognitive reserve predicts better cognitive function but an eventual sharper decline, according to these links:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11705083/#sup1
https://academic.oup.com/ageing/article/54/1/afae284/7944082
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6669930/
The link below is from the above paper and shows a graph of memory and executive function scores for different levels of cognitive reserve
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/core/lw/2.0/html/tileshop_pmc/tileshop_pmc_inline.html?title=Click%20on%20image%20to%20zoom&p=PMC3&id=6669930_NEUROLOGY2018946673FF2.jpg
General information:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3530293/
https://www.scielo.br/j/anp/a/Pn8CnqYqGRHKzy59mfZ5tCn/?lang=en
There are many ways to increase cognitive reserve, including (but not limited to):
Exercise
An active social life
Learning a language
Reading
Learning to play a musical instrument
Promoting good sleep
Adopting a healthy diet, potentially with more plant-based food
Painting
Effective stress management
Crosswords
Book clubs
Gardening
Learning a new skill, such as juggling
My idea for increasing cognitive reserve is to solve maths problems at a suitable level; accessible to the solver but still somewhat of a challenge. With my guidance, problems of a suitable level can be selected. The solver would work on them between lessons for discussion in a relaxed, friendly, sociable manner in tutorials. All levels of expertise would be welcome, from beginner to degree level.
My rates for this tuition are as follows:
For lessons in term time between 9am and 2:30pm £45 per hour
For lessons on Sunday afternoons and after 3pm on weekdays £55 per hour
Please note that I am not able to guarantee that this tuition would delay the onset of such diseases, but suggest that it would be a suitable way to build up cognitive reserve, along with good lifestyle choices.
Click here to contact me or book a tutorial.