The relationship between the brain gym and the changes in interleukin 6 levels and the cognitive function in the elderly

Abstract

Background: The prevalence of cognitive impairment increased by 10% that is doubling every 20 years. Brain gym is one of the non-pharmacological cognitive stimulation therapies that effectively increases brain neuroplasticity and is easy to do. The interleukin 6 biomarker is a pro-inflammatory blood marker that is sensitive to cognitive impairment. This research aims to analyze the relationship between the brain gym and the changes in interleukin 6 levels and the cognitive function in the elderly.Methods: This research is a quasi-experimental observational study with a pretest and post-test approach without controls. The subjects are the elderly from the Tresna Werdha Social Home, Semarang. For comparative hypothesis test between categorical and numerical scale variables, normal data distribution was conducted by Independent T-test.Results: In this research, 33 subjects had the average age of 70.06 ± 6.43 years and the dominant sex was male. There was a significant difference between interleukin 6 levels in pre and post brain gym (p<0.001). There was also a significant difference between the MoCA-Ina values in pre and post brain gym (p<0.001).Conclusion: Interleukin 6 levels decreased after doing brain gym compared to before while the MoCA-Ina value increased after doing brain gym compared to before. Brain gym is safe, easy to do, and effective as a non-pharmacological therapy of neuroplasticity in cognitive impairment.