Social Bonds Protect Aging Brains

Your doctor needs to get you 100% recovered immediately before you lose the first two groups of friends that Aristotle describes.  DEMAND results or your doctor will use the craptastic saying; 'All strokes are different, all stroke recoveries are different'. You can't allow your doctor to hide and cower behind that useless saying.

Aristotle believes that there are three different kinds of friendship; that of utility, friendship of pleasure, and virtuous friendship. 

and that you will likely lose all of the first two post stroke?

 

I still think my reason for drinking is better; it lubricates my social connections which is going to prevent dementia.

Well my drinking alcohol is only in the pursuit of more social connections which is known to prevent dementia. Don't listen to me, I'm not medically trained.

Social Bonds Protect Aging Brains

Summary: Social isolation can potentially harm brain structure and cognitive performance, suggesting an increased risk of conditions like Alzheimer’s dementia.

The study indicates a lack of quality social interaction can lead to a decrease in the hippocampus’s volume, crucial for memory formation and retrieval, and poorer cognitive performance. However, maintaining a strong social network could help preserve brain structure, providing a potential preventive strategy for dementia onset.

The findings underline the importance of targeting those at risk of social isolation with tailored strategies to enhance their social contact.

Key Facts:

1. Social isolation may lead to a decrease in hippocampal volume and poorer cognitive performance, potentially increasing the risk of Alzheimer’s dementia.
2. Individuals with a strong social network may preserve their brain structure and cognitive performance better, suggesting that social contact may help prevent dementia.
3. A correlation was found between increased social isolation and both decreased hippocampal volume and increased cognitive decline, indicating the importance of social contact in maintaining brain health in aging populations.

Source: eLife

A study of the impact of social isolation on cognitive performance and brain structure has highlighted the importance of a good social support system in maintaining a healthy brain into later life. 

The results, published today in eLife, suggest that a lack of quality social contact can lead to a decrease in volume of a region of the brain called the hippocampus – which plays a crucial role in the formation and retrieval of memories – and poorer cognitive performance.

This may also increase the likelihood of developing conditions such as Alzheimer’s dementia. 

However, the results also indicate that maintaining a healthy social network, with frequent contact with supportive friends or family, can help preserve brain structure. Therefore, targeting those at risk of social isolation with tailored strategies to increase social contact may help prevent the onset of dementia.

According to the World Health Organisation, over 55 million people across the globe live with dementia, with over one trillion US dollars spent annually to help treat the condition. As the elderly population continues to grow in many countries, this number is likely to double in the coming decades. In addition, rates of loneliness have increased since the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“Research on drugs targeting dementia development have not yet yielded any results with a clear clinical benefit, offering at most a minor alleviation of symptoms,” says lead author Laurenz Lammer, a MD student at Cognitive Neurology, University Hospital Leipzig and Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.

“Therefore, preventative measures aimed at stopping or delaying the onset of the disease are of utmost importance, and identifying risk factors for developing the disease may be our most promising target.”

To investigate the effects of social isolation on brain structure and cognitive performance, Lammer and colleagues conducted a longitudinal study of 1335 cognitively healthy participants at baseline, and followed up with 912 participants after six years. The cohort were taken from the Health Study of the Leipzig Research Centre for Civilization Diseases (“LIFE-Adult”).

Social isolation was quantified using the Lubben Social Network Scale (LSNS), which is designed to measure the quantity and quality of social relationships amongst adults. The scale consists of a series of questions related to the size of one’s social network, frequency of contact with family and friends, and perceived support from those relationships.

The brain structure and cognitive ability of the participants were quantified using freesurfer segmentations on high-resolution MRI scans.