Defend Your Cognitive Abilities In The Face Of The Passage Of Time

Imagine the brain is a wonderful muscle full of potential that needs to be exercised. The more we use it, the more resistant it becomes and the more it will keep in shape in the face of the passage of time.

Our brain is a multidisciplinary and extremely flexible organ that picks up all kinds of stimuli and processes all kinds of information.

This permanent activity allows him to stay active and to strengthen himself, to maintain, despite the passage of time, good health to cope with various diseases, by developing what is called “cognitive reserve”.

Here’s how to maintain the best possible level of your cognitive reserve for your physical and mental health.

Cognitive reserve, protective of our brain

Cognitive reserve is the capacity that human beings possess to cope with the deterioration that one can suffer in certain diseases, including old age, or to exercise mental agility and the skill of cognitive processes such as the resolution of problem, memorization work, logical reasoning, imagination… etc.

There are clinical cases where, following the death of a person, during the autopsy, it is discovered that this one suffered from a specific brain disease, which, strangely, was not visible during his lifetime.

This clearly demonstrates the capacity and elasticity of our brain to find new connections in order to deal with a specific deficit.

We can for example evoke the case of people who have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, but who are slow to show obvious signs of this disease thanks to their “cognitive reserve, to these structures which develop beyond normal activity to help and strengthen cognitive abilities in the face of neuronal wear and terrible forgetfulness.

A certain predisposition but also the maintenance throughout one’s life of a rich intellectual life, the interest in many subjects, and an open, active and curious mind, are habits that help us to have these new neural connections. . 

In turn, these neural connections create new paths, new structures with which, this incredible organ called the brain, renews itself.

Succeed in developing a large cognitive reserve

Cognitive reserve is often associated with genetic and environmental factors, with having a facilitating context that helps our cognitive capacities to develop, to find new stimuli, to stay awake by new centers of interest and to develop. ‘learning, experimenting, etc.

We could therefore say that the bases which determine the strength of a cognitive reserve are as follows:

– Functional anatomical properties of the brain.

– The intellectual capacity, the duration and the quality of the education received.

– The professional performance that we have been able to achieve in our life.

– Leisure activities, personal interests, our social relationships …

Cognitive reserve is the result of a whole process that begins at the earliest stages of our life, and continues throughout our existence. It is a capacity that can and should be nurtured at all times, for our own benefit.

Some keys could be to maintain a curious outlook on life, ask ourselves questions, have a good circle of friends with whom we can discuss and exchange ideas, feel various emotions, imagine many things, undertake projects, and other activities such as music, painting, writing …

All of this helps us build up our cognitive reserve, and helps us make new neural connections.

By building these new structures, the brain is strengthened and it will therefore be able to cope with possible diseases in the future and will help us to live better in our old age.