Build up your Cognitive Reserve

“Learning never exhausts the mind.”

- Leonardo Da Vinci

We all know we are different and so clearly also our thinking skills differ in age.

Scientists have found out that one explanation for this is that some people have a better resilience to the effects of ageing because they have developed a better capacity to cope with changes.

‘Cognitive reserve’ is the idea that people develop a reserve of thinking abilities during their lives, and that this protects them against losses that can occur through ageing, injury and disease.

As a consequence, they can call on this reservoir in older age, rather like the conscientious saver has a reserve of money to call on for ‘rainy days’.

Why do some people have better cognitive reserves than others?

Research suggests that our level of intelligence, which traces back to childhood, and our set of lifetime experiences, help build cognitive reserve and may account for differences between us.

The lifetime experiences include:

• Education

• Engaging occupation

• Stimulating activities

• Social support

• Modifiable factors like exercise, diet, etc.
  

Studies have repeatedly found that these life experiences are associated with a slower rate of cognitive decline in normal ageing and reduced risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. In other words, higher attainment and engagement appear to protect cognitive function in ageing.

The changes in the brain that are seen in Alzheimer’s may still occur, but these people cope better and won’t ever be diagnosed because they don’t present any symptoms.

How does cognitive reserve develop?

The mechanism of how cognitive reserve develops when we engage in life experiences and activities isn’t yet clear and is the topic of much research.

One possibility is that these activities stimulate new or stronger connections in the brain (the bypasses in the picture below) and the brain networks therefore are more efficient, or of higher capacity, in some people than others.

It is never too early or too late to start, and the more activities, the better: the effect appears to be cumulative.