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Stress, Cognitive Reserve, and Dementia

I've been studying the importance of taking time to engage in leisure activities that improve or contribute to your cognitive reserve (CR, Scarmeas, Levy, Tang, Many & Stern, 2001, p. 2240). These include "reading, visiting friends or relatives, going to movies or restaurants, walking, and going on excursions" all contribute to cognitive reserve (Ibid). CR represents the brain's capacity to cope with stress and injury ensuring on going functionality especially as we age (Stern, 2006). This psychophysiological ability of the brain and mind to cope and work around the wear and tear of stress becomes increasingly important as we get older and the prevalence of dementia and cognitive decline dramatically increases.

I'm disappointed though. I hoped binge watching television and lying sedentary while eating ice cream, chips, and drinking beer might be healthy. They're not on the list. However, watching television did make Wilson, et al.'s (2002) list of 7 CR creating activities that "involve information processing as a central component." Their list of CR strengthening activities which buffered elderly folk from dementia included "viewing television; listening to radio; reading newspapers; reading magazines; reading books; playing games such as cards, checkers, crosswords, or other puzzles; and going to museums" (Ibid; see also Verghese et al., 2003).

Converging scientific research affirms health benefits of regular exercise and cognitively charged leisure which engage the mind. This research builds upon a growing paradigm shift in medicine. This new way of thinking began with the realization that by 1960 stress related diseases exceeded microbial etiologies in United States mortality studies (Everly & Lating, 2013, p. 3). Stress necessarily involves perception or appraisal / psychological factors (Lazarus, 1984).

Interestingly, a plethora of studies correlate education with reduced incidence of dementia and conclude that educational attainment acts as a "proxy for [cognitive] reserve"; However, a lifespan approach to the issue best accounts for the nuances in the research. In the same way that arteriosclerosis develops as an interplay of genetics, diet and lifestyle over many years, so too with cognitive reserve. The neural connectivity associated with a life characterized by optimism, curiosity, activity and openness to experience established over the course of many years differs significantly from that which emerges from years of stress related depression, defensive exclusion of potentially rewarding experience, anger and hostility. A significantly different neural net profile of potentiated networks emerges over time (DeYoung, Hirsch, Shan, Papademetris, Rajeevan & Gray, 2010) as state become embedded as neural traits (Perry, Pollard, Blaicley, Baker & Vigilante, 1995).

The point is that just like other health related issues, so too with the mind. Taking charge of your stress now while you are young enough to do something about it pays off by way of CR as you age. However, it is never too late to start learning how to improve how you cope with the stress of the life. My wife, Dorothy Husen, helps people immeasurably improve the quality of their lives and everyone around them as a result. Check out her website (http://www.dorothyhusen.com) or give her a call at (951) 203-2181.

References

DeYoung, C. G., Hirsh, J. B., Shane, M. S., Papademetris, X., Rajeevan, N., & Gray, J. R. (2010). Testing predictions from personality neuroscience: Brain structure and the big five. Psychological science, 21(6), 820-826.

Everly, G. S., & Lating, J. M. (2013). A clinical guide to the treatment of the human stress response (3d ed.). New York: Springer.

Lazarus, R. S. & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress appraisal and coping. New York: Springer Publishing.

Perry, B. D., Pollard, R. A., Blakely, T. L., Baker, W. L., & Vigilante, D. (1995). Childhood trauma, the neurobiology of adaptation, and “use-dependent” development of the brain: How “states become “traits”. Infant Mental Health Journal, 16(4), 271-291.

Scarmeas, N., Levy, G., Tang, M. X., Manly, J., & Stern, Y. (2001). Influence of leisure activity on the incidence of Alzheimer’s disease. Neurology, 57(12), 2236-2242.

Stern, Y. (2006). Cognitive reserve and Alzheimer disease. Alzheimer Disease & Associated Disorders, 20(2), 112-117.

Verghese, J., Lipton, R. B., Katz, M. J., Hall, C. B., Derby, C. A., Kuslansky, G., ... & Buschke, H. (2003). Leisure activities and the risk of dementia in the elderly. New England Journal of Medicine, 348(25), 2508-2516.

Wilson, R. S., de Leon, C. F. M., Barnes, L. L., Schneider, J. A., Bienias, J. L., Evans, D. A., & Bennett, D. A. (2002). Participation in Cognitively Stimulating Activities and Risk of Incident Alzheimer Disease. Journal of the American Medical Assocition, 287, 742-748.