Use it or Lose it: Exploring Cognitive Reserve and the Nun Study
In this episode of The Well Nurtured Brain, Dr. Pamela Hutchison ND explores the concept of cognitive reserve - the brain's thinking capacity, which is based on the number and health of connections between the neurons in the brain.
She talks about how cognitive reserve is built and maintained, and shares insights from the Nun Study, a cohort of almost 700 Catholic nuns, to demonstrate how cognitive reserve can help people maintain their brain health as they age.
We’ll discuss:
Use it or Lose it: The brain repairs and maintains the pathways, neurons, and systems that we use.
Diversity of Use: The more diversity of use, the more pathways our brain has to perform a task.
Nun Study Insights: How the study showed that higher education is correlated to increased cognitive reserve
The intriguing correlation of one specific measurement, made from the Nun’s teenage personal biographies and their later cognitive health.
Resources:
Snowdon DA; Nun Study. Healthy aging and dementia: findings from the Nun Study. Ann Intern Med. 2003 Sep 2;139(5 Pt 2):450-4. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-139-5_part_2-200309021-00014. PMID: 12965975.
Iacono D, Zandi P, Gross M, et al. APOε2 and education in cognitively normal older subjects with high levels of AD pathology at autopsy: findings from the Nun Study. Oncotarget. 2015;6(16):14082-14091. doi:10.18632/oncotarget.4118 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4546453/
Snowdon DA, Kemper SJ, Mortimer JA, Greiner LH, Wekstein DR, Markesbery WR. Linguistic ability in early life and cognitive function and Alzheimer's disease in late life. Findings from the Nun Study. JAMA. 1996;275(7):528-532. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8606473/
Farias ST, Chand V, Bonnici L, et al. Idea density measured in late life predicts subsequent cognitive trajectories: implications for the measurement of cognitive reserve. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2012;67(6):677-686. doi:10.1093/geronb/gbr162 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3478727/
Idea density definition from here: https://research-management.mq.edu.au/ws/portalfiles/portal/109328352/109153764.pdf
Blog post: NATHANIEL WOODWARD,Educator, Applied Statistician, and Learning Scientist, University of Texas at Austin Ph.D. in Educational Psychology (Learning Sciences) https://nathanielwoodward.com/post/idea-density-or-teenage-essays-predict-old-age-alzheimers/
Sumowski, J. F., Rocca, M. A., Leavitt, V. M., Riccitelli, G., Comi, G., DeLuca, J., & Filippi, M. (2013). Brain reserve and cognitive reserve in multiple sclerosis: what you've got and how you use it. Neurology, 80(24), 2186–2193. https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0b013e318296e98b https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23667062/
David Snowdon’s book: “Aging with Grace: What the Nun Study Teaches Us About Leading Longer, Healthier, and More Meaningful Lives” https://www.amazon.ca/Aging-Grace-Teaches-Healthier-Meaningful/dp/0553380923
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