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.
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