Pretty much everyone has heard the phrase “use it or lose it,” but did you know this phrase applies to your brain too. New research suggests that while the physical material such as neurons and quantity of brain matter can’t change, your ability to form new neural connections can be strengthened by use of your brain. Using your brain in this way is called enrichment and can be separated into social, mental, and physical components. These connections can prolong cognitive function and provide for better memory preservation. To understand this concept, there are two important terms to understand: brain reserve and cognitive reserve. Brain reserve is the ability of the brain to deal with aging in a way that prevents disease while cognitive reserve is the brain’s ability to adapt to new changes, especially through making new connections. There is however a strong relationship between the two. A recent study has shown that enrichment significantly influences cognitive reserve. Social, mental, and physical aspects. This experiment in mice involved enrichment of the environment to measure the impact on cognitive reserve. One of the largest impacts on cognitive reserve is plasticity.
Plasticity
Plasticity is the ability of the brain to make changes in response to new stimuli. Plasticity is especially important in restoring normal function after damage as well as simply learning new things. Young children are said to have greater brain plasticity and are more likely able to heal from neurological damage than adults. One mechanism for these changes is microglia. Microglia are specialized cells of the nervous system classically thought of as the immune cells of the brain. They are important for removing toxins to keep brain tissue healthy. More recently, microglia have been shown to also play an important role in normal neural development and plasticity. This role still needs greater research, but it shows promise in treating neurodevelopmental disorders.
Bilingualism
Bilingualism has been shown to benefit people by improving their ability to interpret multiple stimuli simultaneously. When a bilingual person is listening to speech, they hear both languages and quickly switch between both. A bilingual person uses attention and inhibition to executively control which language is active. This works like a muscle. As the person uses these executive functions more, their ability to control language increases. Bilingual people have shown better scores on tests that measure attention such as reading the color red in blue ink. There are structural changes to people who speak more than one language. People who are bilingual activate more brain areas when they are speaking which leads to greater focus and understanding.
Good News
The good news in all of this is that there are things you can do to improve your cognitive function. It is widely debated what enrichment would look like in humans, but the common themes can suggest some possible actions. Social relationships tend to benefit the brain, especially marriage. People who live alone are slightly more likely to develop dementia. Engaging in social connections is one way to protect against loss of cognitive function. From a mental perspective, things like education, puzzles, and board games have been speculated as possible ways to improve cognitive reserve. Physically, exercise has been shown to protect against loss of cognitive function. The mechanisms of each of these is still unknown, though engaging in stimulating activities can lead to both prevention of aging related deficits and a higher quality life in the meantime.
