What keeps our brain healthy as we grow older?
The brain reaches its developmental peak at age twenty, and from age forty it begins to lose some of its abilities. Now a new study in the United States reveals that education, income and certain types of jobs may help delay cognitive decline in the sixth decade of life.
The study, conducted by researchers at Ohio University, followed more than twenty thousand participants for over twenty years.
The dataset included information about income, occupation and education, along with personal details such as family status, religion, depression, cognitive abilities, weight and height, level of physical activity, smoking history, and other health indicators.
The researchers analyzed the data of seven thousand sixty eight adults aged fifty four to sixty five in 1996 and again twenty years later.
They found that participants with an academic education had the highest cognitive abilities, including memory, judgment, and focus.
Another factor influencing higher cognitive ability was having a job that required thinking skills and data processing.
The lead researcher, sociologist Professor Zhang, believes that the reason people with academic degrees perform better cognitively in their fifties is that they are more likely to have careers that demand higher brain function. “If you have a job that challenges you mentally, you are lucky because you use your brain all the time,” he said. “The more mental challenges your job includes, the better.”
“Previous studies have shown that education, high socioeconomic status, and optimal access to health services are linked to brain resilience,” said Dr. Wisniewski, a neuropathologist and director of an Alzheimer’s research center in New York University. “Still, the finding that factors people can actually control may explain up to forty percent of the differences in cognitive loss from age fifty four is definitely good news.”
But an academic degree is not the only way to avoid cognitive decline. Previous studies have shown that hobbies and interests that stimulate the brain, such as learning a new language, painting, and writing, also help preserve brain function.
The study also noted that a healthy lifestyle, such as maintaining normal weight, avoiding smoking, and participating in vigorous physical activity, had only a relatively small effect on the rate of cognitive decline after age fifty four. However, many earlier studies have shown that obesity, diabetes, high blood lipids, and a sedentary lifestyle significantly increase the risk of cognitive decline and even dementia.
“For years we have known that the connections between neurons improve when integration between different brain regions is activated,” explained Dr. Miller, a neurology specialist. “Neurons have an action potential that strengthens the more we use them repeatedly. As is known, the more we repeat material again and again, the better we remember it, because repetition strengthens the neuron and the neural network it belongs to. For example, when learning to play an instrument or drive a car, the beginning is difficult but later it becomes automatic. This process of creating connectivity between neurons is important for brain function and efficiency.”
“However, finishing an academic degree is not enough,” Dr. Miller added. “The career that follows academic studies is what makes the difference in preventing cognitive decline. A career that activates the brain and maintains neural connections may help prevent brain deterioration. And in general, I tell my patients that it is never too late to care for brain function, even at age eighty. Learning a new language, joining social groups, new experiences, and travel to new places all create mentally challenging learning that improves brain performance and may prevent cognitive decline.”