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Enhanced Mental Agility: Understanding the 3 Pillars of Mental Resilience

Enhanced cognitive reserves contribute to better memory performance, minimizing the impact of mild cognitive impairment.

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Enhanced Brain Resilience: 3 Strategies How Cognitive Reserve Safeguards You Against Mild Cognitive...
Enhanced Brain Resilience: 3 Strategies How Cognitive Reserve Safeguards You Against Mild Cognitive Impairment.

Enhanced Mental Agility: Understanding the 3 Pillars of Mental Resilience

Sister Matthia, a remarkable woman who lived a fulfilling life until the age of 105, offers an interesting case study on the impact of cognitive reserve on brain health and resistance to cognitive decline.

Sister Matthia did not smoke or consume alcohol and ate in moderation. Her day was devoted to spirituality, helping the poor and needy, teaching, exercise, and hobbies like knitting. These lifestyle choices, combined with her intellectually stimulating activities, contributed significantly to her cognitive reserve.

Cognitive reserve refers to the brain's ability to cope with damage or pathology without showing clinical signs of cognitive decline. It acts as a protective buffer against conditions like Alzheimer's disease (AD). Several key factors contribute to building cognitive reserve: education and intellectual engagement, social relationships, occupation and lifestyle, and physical health.

Sister Matthia's 50-year career as a schoolteacher undoubtedly played a crucial role in her cognitive reserve. Higher levels of formal education strengthen neural networks, enhancing cognitive reserve. Lifelong learning and engaging in complex cognitive tasks help develop this reserve.

Sister Matthia's social relationships were also strong, which encouraged her participation in cognitive, physical, and social activities. Positive social support has been linked to better cognitive outcomes, while adverse relationships may reduce cognitive reserve benefits.

Sister Matthia's lifestyle choices, including regular exercise and a balanced diet, also improved her brain health and cognitive reserve. Maintaining cardiovascular health and avoiding factors that reduce cerebral blood flow, like inflammation or head trauma, support cognitive reserve and brain resilience.

Despite showing clear signs of Alzheimer's disease in her brain after her death, Sister Matthia's excellent memory held until the end. This could be attributed to her high cognitive reserve, which enabled her brain to compensate for the disease and delay symptom onset.

Individuals with higher cognitive reserve show more efficient brain activity and a better ability to adapt to brain changes caused by AD pathology, delaying symptom onset despite similar levels of amyloid plaques or neurodegeneration. High cognitive reserve is also associated with a lower risk of developing Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD), partly because it modulates the impact of AD biomarkers.

Cognitive reserve enables better maintenance of cognitive and motor functions despite brain aging or disease, potentially delaying the clinical manifestation of dementia symptoms, allowing individuals to function better for longer.

In addition to delaying the onset of dementia symptoms, higher cognitive reserve is associated with a higher quality of life, even in the presence of disability. It can also lead to lower levels of apathy in older age.

Engaging in various hobbies at the age of 65 can lead to better memory, language, and higher thinking skills. Activities such as playing chess, gardening, meeting family and friends, and dancing (90 minutes, twice a week) can all help improve cognition. Dancing, in particular, improves movement, muscle coordination, increases brain size, activates more brain connections, and improves attention required to remember dance routines.

In conclusion, Sister Matthia's life serves as a testament to the power of cognitive reserve. By leading a healthy lifestyle, engaging in intellectually stimulating activities, and maintaining strong social relationships, individuals can build their cognitive reserve and potentially delay or even resist cognitive decline associated with conditions like Alzheimer's disease.

References:

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  24. The high cognitive reserve built by Sister Matthia, through lifelong learning and engaging in complex cognitive tasks, might also have positively impacted her overall health-and-wellness and mental-health, as higher cognitive reserve is associated with a lower risk of developing Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.
  25. Engaging in various hobbies at an older age not only improves cognitive functions such as memory, language, and higher thinking skills but also positively affects mental health, as activities like dancing stimulate brain development and delay the onset of dementia symptoms, leading to a higher quality of life even in the presence of disability.

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