Maintain the brain - and beat mental decline

Ten years ago New Scientist published an article on brainpower – and how to beat mental decline, such as dementia, or at least minimise it by one simple philosophy – maintain the brain. In other words, use it or lose it.

People who lead active, mentally stimulating lives, who are more intelligent and better educated, seem to be protected from the mental decline that comes with age (New Scientist, October 27, 2005). Some psychologists and neuroscientists call this ‘cognitive reserve’ or ‘brain padding.’ The higher the reserve, the more damage to the brain that can be sustained without showing signs of mental decline. But the idea is controversial, or seen to be ‘nonsense.’

With brain scanning equipment, scientists can study the effects of mental decline. Epidemiologists (people who study diseases) confirm that people with high literacy and IQ cope better with the decline of their mental faculties. They recover better from stroke, head injury, intoxication, and poisoning than the average person. After the age of 25 years, mental abilities start to fade – this includes the speed of processing information, absorbing new memories, reasoning powers, and spatial abilities.

Brain ‘padding’ was first noted in 1992 by Yaakov Stern, a neurologist at the Sergievsky Center at Columbia University in New York. He noticed that in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients those who had received more education throughout their life also had more severe brain pathology yet didn’t appear to be as affected in brain functioning tests. The findings suggested that there was some kind of ‘padding’ protecting more educated patients from getting all of the expected symptoms.

Studies in 2001 by Lawrence Whalley of the University of Aberdeen in Scotland also found that better educated people suffered less cognitive impairment than less educated people.

Ian Deary, a pyschologist at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, found that brain size mattered too. The larger the brain, the more able people were to cope with the loss of brain neurons. But it’s not just the size, it’s what the brain can do – i.e. its intellect – that matters too.

Researchers found that highly educated people were better at compensating for brain loss in their cortical areas. The ‘padding’ seems to protect areas critical in controlling learning, short-term memory, attention, and language.

Stern conducted brain scans on volunteers, young and old, as they performed memory tests. He wanted to see the changes in the brain from easy tasks to difficult tasks. He found that the higher a person’s IQ the less effort their brains had to make to complete the test. He maintained that having a more efficient brain network kept these people’s brains functioning better as they aged. The brain seems to do one of two things: (1) switch to reserve capacity, such as using alternative networks, or (2) increase the efficiency of existing networks.

Stern found that when people with higher IQ are diagnosed with dementia they decline rapidly and seem to die sooner after diagnosis than people with less education. But it’s not that they actually deteriorate faster, it’s that their symptoms take longer to diagnose because their brains are still active.

Marcus Richards, an epidemiologist at the University College of London, found that there are many factors that keep the brain functioning. He studied people in Great Britain born just after World War II (called the 1946 British cohort). He found that social class, occupation, and education at the age of 26 helped shape cognitive ability at the age of 53. Education works to keep the brain functioning, which then prevents mental decline.

But education is not the same as intelligence. The best predictor of cognitive ability (brainpower) in middle age is the IQ score when a person is 8 years of age. Intelligence may be, in part, genetic, but using the brain beyond childhood improves its brainpower.

Deary and Richards studied the findings of the Scottish Mental Survey that followed a group of several hundred children born in 1921, who did IQ tests at the age of 11, and again at the age of 80. The researchers found that, although IQ scores at 11 were a strong predictor of scores later in life, some people managed to significantly increase their IQ score. Why? It was due to education and socio-economic status!

Ross Andel and James Mortimer of the University of South Florida in America used data from the Swedish Twin Registry in 2005 and found that people engaged in complex occupations were to some extent protected against the risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

Researchers found that it is never too late to start using the brain. Fighting senility with ‘mental gymnastics’ in now part of anti-ageing philosophies. Research at Trinity College in Dublin in Ireland found that it is not just mental gymnastics that helps the brain, but also actual gymnastics – i.e. exercise. Even exercise like gardening, and going out to meet friends was considered to be good for the brain.

Beyond 65 years of age the risk of dementia doubles every five years, and nearly 25% of people over the age of 85 suffer from dementia. The ‘maintain the brain’ philosophy includes 5 techniques:

1. Stay alert – do some kind of mental activity, such as a job, reading, Sudoku etc.

2. Keep fit – exercise to keep the blood flowing, such as cardio work outs

3. Minimise stress – try to stay calm and avoid neuroticism and paranoia

4. Eat right – a diet high in mono and polyunsaturated fatty acids (fish and olive oil), and vitamin E, polyphenols, and antioxidants (citrus and dark-skinned fruits and vegetables) may slow the decline

5. Stay sober – and don’t smoke or take street drugs.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg18825301-300-how-brainpower-can-help-you-cheat-old-age/?utm_source=third-party-widget&utm_medium=third-party-widget&utm_term=philips&utm_campaign=philips