Can top neurologist Neil Martin fight dementia with activities, wise eating?

Helga Unkeless got a flier in her mailbox this year promoting an unusual exercise program geared toward 50-plus year olds that combines physical agility with cognitive health in the fourth quarter of one’s life.

“The purpose of this gym struck me,” said Unkeless, 92, of West Hills, a retired physical therapist. “My mother and sister both died of Alzheimer’s and it petrified me. It’s important to be active.”

The gym Unkeless was talking about is Q4 Active, a fitness center in Woodland Hills that offers a 12-week cognitive conditioning camp, and a brain-body fitness program to stay mentally sharp. Its founder, renowned neurosurgeon and cognitive specialist Dr. Neil Martin, says it is driven by science, in-studio classes and at-home exercises to enhance brain performance.

Unlike the average fitness center geared to all ages, Q4 Active is designed for those whose bones are becoming more brittle and who need to concentrate on stretching, which gets the muscles moving and the oxygen in the blood flowing.

Q4 Active is the brainchild of Martin, who was at UCLA for 30 years including as chair of the Department of Neurology at the Geffen School of Medicine from 2008 to 2016. He is considered one of the leading skull base and neurovascular neurosurgeons in the country. Today he is a neurosurgeon at Pacific Neuroscience Institute and Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica.

As Q4’s chief medical advisor, he is embracing the use of advanced neuro technology to fight dementia. The program includes changing how people socialize, how they pursue lifestyle activities and how they eat — focusing on a Mediterranean-like diet emphasizing fresh fruits and vegetables.

Martin’s research is based on the world’s “blue zones” where people live longer than average, including Italy, Japan, Costa Rica and Greece — and the San Bernardino County city of Loma Linda, whose large population of Seventh-day Adventists adheres to healthy diets, socialization and exercise.

“Physical and cognitive exercise each are powerful brain enhancers,” Martin explained in November. “Combined simultaneously, they come close to a silver bullet to counteract brain aging.”

He says cognitive decline is not inevitable, and science suggests that people have the power to prevent, delay, slow and even reverse signs of cognitive decline — by learning and practicing specific brain and memory skills to enhance their brain’s health.

“We are bringing brain health to the forefront,” said Phil Swain, Q4 Active chief executive officer. “Isolation is bad for your health and 40- and 50-year-olds need to start thinking about their future brain health (now).”

One of the exercise programs puts the participants into constant movement for 45 minutes at six workout stations, with a one-minute and 30-second break during three cycles — as music plays softly in the background.

The circuit includes bouncing 4 lb. to 10 lb. balls on multicolored dots on the floor, tiptoeing through a ladder on the floor, weighted pulldowns, stretching — and smacking a sequence of lighted numbers on a wall board about 10-feet high and 20-feet wide as if they were playing the game “Whack-A-Mole.”

All of the stations address brain training, muscular strength and endurance, balance and stability, heart-rate training, mobility and flexibility and neuromotor control.

Ruth Jaco, 59, of Woodland Hills suffered from kidney and heart health issues much of her life. She has been diabetic for 20 years and took insulin for 13 years, and is also a breast cancer survivor.

But in the last 22 months, including since she joined Q4 Active in January, Jaco has lost 50-plus pounds and is off all of her medications.

“I’ve taken control of my life,” Jaco said. “I’ve changed my diet and now I’m losing one-and-one-half pounds every month. This is doable.”