{"id":89258,"date":"2024-07-24T18:04:25","date_gmt":"2024-07-24T18:04:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/?post_type=news&p=89258"},"modified":"2024-07-08T18:12:59","modified_gmt":"2024-07-08T18:12:59","slug":"stress-literally-eats-away-at-your-brains-cognitive-reserve","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/news\/stress-literally-eats-away-at-your-brains-cognitive-reserve\/","title":{"rendered":"Stress literally eats away at your brain\u2019s cognitive reserve"},"content":{"rendered":"

SOLNA, Sweden \u2014\u00a0<\/strong>It\u2019s no secret that stress can have a negative effect on the human body. However, a new study is revealing just how dangerous stress can be for the human brain. Publishing their work in\u00a0Alzheimer\u2019s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer\u2019s Association<\/em><\/a>, Swedish researchers say stress can actually chip away at your brain\u2019s cognitive defenses \u2014 putting you at higher risk for dementia.<\/p>\n

The findings, in a nutshell<\/h2>\n

This groundbreaking study from Karolinska Institutet has uncovered a fascinating interplay between our daily activities and cognitive health. Researchers have long believed that engaging in mentally stimulating activities, like going to college, tackling complex jobs, staying physically active, and maintaining a rich social life, can help build a \u201ccognitive reserve<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

This reserve acts as a mental buffer, potentially protecting our brains from the symptoms of dementia, even when physical signs of the disease are present. However, this new research adds a critical twist to our understanding:\u00a0stress<\/strong><\/a>. While these brain-boosting activities can enhance cognition in memory clinic patients, high or persistent stress levels can undermine these benefits.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s as if stress acts as a cognitive thief, robbing us of the mental resilience we\u2019ve worked hard to build. This finding is particularly significant as stress is known to reduce social interactions, hinder our ability to engage in leisure activities, and even increase the risk of dementia.<\/p>\n

\u201cDifferent\u00a0stress management strategies<\/a>\u00a0could be a good complement to existing lifestyle interventions in Alzheimer\u2019s prevention,\u201d says the study\u2019s lead author Manasa Shanta Yerramalla, a researcher in the Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society at the Karolinska Institutet, in a media release.<\/p>\n

While brain-boosting activities can enhance cognition, high or persistent stress levels can undermine these benefits. (Photo by Kampus Production on Pexels)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

How did researchers make this discovery?<\/h2>\n

The journey to this discovery began in the late 1980s when researchers made a puzzling observation. Some individuals who showed no apparent symptoms of dementia during their lifetime had brain changes consistent with advanced Alzheimer\u2019s disease. This led to a new line of dementia-related questioning: If their brains showed signs of the disease, why weren\u2019t they experiencing symptoms?<\/p>\n

The investigation led to the concept of \u201ccognitive reserve\u201d \u2014 the idea that certain life experiences and behaviors can build up a\u00a0mental resilience<\/a>\u00a0that protects against cognitive decline. Think of it like building a strong, multi-layered fortress in your brain. Each mentally stimulating activity \u2014 whether it\u2019s studying for a degree, solving complex problems at work, or engaging in lively discussions with friends \u2014 adds another layer of protection. Even if Alzheimer\u2019s disease starts to breach the outer walls, the inner layers can help maintain normal cognitive function.<\/p>\n

Fast forward to today, and researchers at Karolinska Institutet decided to dig deeper. They gathered 113 participants from the memory clinic at Karolinska University Hospital in Sweden. Their goal was to examine how cognitive reserve relates to cognition and\u00a0biomarkers for Alzheimer\u2019s disease<\/a>. However, they added a unique twist to their study. The team also looked at how stress might affect this relationship.<\/p>\n

Yerramalla\u2019s team measured two types of stress: physiological stress (using cortisol levels in saliva) and psychological stress (how stressed participants felt).\u00a0Cortisol<\/a>\u00a0is often called the \u201cstress hormone\u201d because its levels rise when we\u2019re under pressure. Think of cortisol as your body\u2019s built-in alarm system. The results show that while greater cognitive reserve did improve cognition, as expected, higher cortisol levels seemed to weaken this beneficial relationship. It\u2019s as if stress was slowly eroding the protective layers of their\u00a0mental fortress<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This discovery opens up exciting new avenues for Alzheimer\u2019s prevention. The researchers suggest that stress-reducing techniques like mindfulness exercises and meditation, which can lower cortisol levels, might be a powerful addition to existing lifestyle interventions. Just as we build our cognitive reserve through mental workouts, we might also need to incorporate stress management to maintain our brain\u2019s defenses.<\/p>\n

The team notes that since stress disrupts sleep, which then disrupts cognition, this study did factor in the use of sleep medications by the participants. However, there is still more work to do to identify how exactly poor sleep damages the cognitive reserve.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese results might have clinical implications as an expanding body of research suggests that mindfulness exercises and meditation may reduce cortisol levels and improve cognition,\u201d Dr. Yerramalla, adds. \u201cWe will continue to study the association between stress and sleeping disorders and how it affects the cognitive reserve in memory clinic patients.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information about stress, go to stress.org<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo by Tara Winstead<\/a><\/p>\n

By \u00a0Chris Melore<\/a><\/p>\n

OP- Study Finds<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SOLNA, Sweden \u2014\u00a0It\u2019s no secret that stress can have a negative effect on the human body. However, a new study is revealing just how dangerous stress can be for the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"give_campaign_id":0,"pmpro_default_level":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false},"categories":[12,178,13,194,142,15,688,166],"tags":[136,137,155,165],"class_list":["post-89258","news","type-news","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adult-stress","category-burnout","category-child-stress","category-family-stress","category-health","category-mental-health","category-stress-tools","category-wellness","tag-ais","tag-american-institute-of-stress","tag-research","tag-stress-relief","pmpro-has-access"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nStress literally eats away at your brain\u2019s cognitive reserve - The American Institute of Stress<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"stress can have a negative effect on the human body. revealing just how dangerous stress can, interplay between our daily activities and cognitive health, putting you at higher risk for dementia.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/news\/stress-literally-eats-away-at-your-brains-cognitive-reserve\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Stress literally eats away at your brain\u2019s cognitive reserve - The American Institute of Stress\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"stress can have a negative effect on the human body. revealing just how dangerous stress can, interplay between our daily activities and cognitive health, putting you at higher risk for dementia.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/news\/stress-literally-eats-away-at-your-brains-cognitive-reserve\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The American Institute of Stress\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/pexels-tara-winstead-8849272-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/news\/stress-literally-eats-away-at-your-brains-cognitive-reserve\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/news\/stress-literally-eats-away-at-your-brains-cognitive-reserve\/\",\"name\":\"Stress literally eats away at your brain\u2019s cognitive reserve - The American Institute of Stress\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-07-24T18:04:25+00:00\",\"description\":\"stress can have a negative effect on the human body. revealing just how dangerous stress can, interplay between our daily activities and cognitive health, putting you at higher risk for dementia.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/news\/stress-literally-eats-away-at-your-brains-cognitive-reserve\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/news\/stress-literally-eats-away-at-your-brains-cognitive-reserve\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/news\/stress-literally-eats-away-at-your-brains-cognitive-reserve\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Stress literally eats away at your brain\u2019s cognitive reserve\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/\",\"name\":\"The American Institute of Stress\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The American Institute of Stress\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/AIS-logo-C.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/AIS-logo-C.svg\",\"width\":1440,\"height\":432,\"caption\":\"The American Institute of Stress\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Stress literally eats away at your brain\u2019s cognitive reserve - The American Institute of Stress","description":"stress can have a negative effect on the human body. revealing just how dangerous stress can, interplay between our daily activities and cognitive health, putting you at higher risk for dementia.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/news\/stress-literally-eats-away-at-your-brains-cognitive-reserve\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Stress literally eats away at your brain\u2019s cognitive reserve - The American Institute of Stress","og_description":"stress can have a negative effect on the human body. revealing just how dangerous stress can, interplay between our daily activities and cognitive health, putting you at higher risk for dementia.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/news\/stress-literally-eats-away-at-your-brains-cognitive-reserve\/","og_site_name":"The American Institute of Stress","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1707,"url":"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/pexels-tara-winstead-8849272-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/news\/stress-literally-eats-away-at-your-brains-cognitive-reserve\/","url":"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/news\/stress-literally-eats-away-at-your-brains-cognitive-reserve\/","name":"Stress literally eats away at your brain\u2019s cognitive reserve - The American Institute of Stress","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/#website"},"datePublished":"2024-07-24T18:04:25+00:00","description":"stress can have a negative effect on the human body. revealing just how dangerous stress can, interplay between our daily activities and cognitive health, putting you at higher risk for dementia.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/news\/stress-literally-eats-away-at-your-brains-cognitive-reserve\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.stress.org\/news\/stress-literally-eats-away-at-your-brains-cognitive-reserve\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/news\/stress-literally-eats-away-at-your-brains-cognitive-reserve\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Stress literally eats away at your brain\u2019s cognitive reserve"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/","name":"The American Institute of Stress","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/#organization","name":"The American Institute of Stress","url":"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/AIS-logo-C.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/AIS-logo-C.svg","width":1440,"height":432,"caption":"The American Institute of Stress"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/89258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}