Daily social connections may improve long-term health and cognition

 My social connections are not pushed aside.

(Sunday is music at Red Cedar, Tuesday is music at Moriarties, Thursday is trivia at Moriarties; all are bars, so alcohol is involved, there will be no condemnations of that.) All part of my plan to exponentially expand my social connections to prevent dementia. 

Did your incompetent? doctor fail to get you recovered enough to easily initiate these again?

Daily social connections may improve long-term health and cognition

Calling a friend after a long day. Showing up to a neighbor's dinner when you'd rather stay home. Lingering a little longer in a conversation that didn't need to last. Such ordinary, even trivial, moments. But to psychologist Susan Charles, Associate Dean of Graduate Programs in the School of Social Ecology, they may be among the most consequential health decisions a person makes.

Charles has been awarded a $2,550,958 grant from the National Institute on Aging to investigate how the daily rhythms of feeling socially connected, or disconnected, shape the way our bodies and minds hold up over time.

Her project, "Linking Daily Dynamics of Social Connection to Physical and Cognitive Functioning," could fundamentally change how doctors, therapists and public health officials approach loneliness and social isolation.

The health stakes of feeling connected

Most people intuitively understand that having close relationships is good for them. Decades of research confirmed it. But, Charles argues that science has been limited by looking at social connection in only one way - as a fixed trait, a general level of sociability that a person either has or doesn't have.

Our understanding of social connection and its strong association with health is based largely on studies assessing social experiences using static, trait-like measures of general levels of thoughts and activities. Yet, feeling socially connected varies from day to day, fluctuating as much as other commonly recognized daily emotional experiences."

Susan Charles, Associate Dean of Graduate Programs, School of Social Ecology, University of California - Irvine

In other words, the same person who feels warmly surrounded by community on Tuesday might feel profoundly alone by Thursday.

Charles believes such fluctuations may hold the key to understanding how social life gets under our skin, quite literally.

She draws a vivid picture of what this might look like in an ordinary life.

"Daily decisions to call a friend, or to go to a social function even though you are tired from a long day at work may not seem like health decisions," Charles says, "but these times of social connection influence well-being."

The effects, she explains, are both immediate and cumulative. A shared laugh can ease distress and trigger feelings of safety and contentment. Showing up for a regular dinner with a neighbor means you leave your house, stay physically active and engage in the kind of conversation that demands mental effort - tracking information, forming arguments, retrieving memories. Over time, those moments compound.

"Consistent positive social connection enhance health, affecting myriad health outcomes from physical symptoms to gene expression," Charles adds.

Small daily changes, she points out, have the potential to create a "ripple effect" that contributes to longer-term outcomes - for better or for worse.

To test these ideas, Charles is turning to one of the most extraordinary longitudinal datasets in social science: the Midlife in the United States study, known as MIDUS.
The project draws on two longitudinal daily diary datasets spanning nearly 20 years. In one dataset, participants completed nightly phone interviews every day for a week, across three separate waves in 2002, 2014, and 2023. A second dataset captures two waves of daily diary data spanning about a decade, with waves beginning in 2012 and 2023.

Altogether, the study follows more than 2,900 adults ranging in age from 24 to 97.

In addition to the daily diary interviews, participants completed extensive surveys, underwent cognitive assessments and some even flew to a medical facility where they provided blood and urine samples, completed physical fitness tasks and submitted to a battery of biomarker testing.

"Any single facet of this study is interesting to study," Charles says, "but together we have an unprecedented view into how their daily lives unfold and are related to multiple measures of cognitive, physical and mental health."

Charles will delve deep in her search for evidence of social connection's effects.

The professor and her research team plan to examine cortisol, often called the "stress hormone," with chronically high levels linked to cognitive decline and poor physical health.

Charles also will analyze inflammatory markers, gene expression profiles, and even biomarkers of biological age acceleration - measures of how fast a person's cells are aging relative to their chronological age.

The biological story she hopes to tell connects the social world to a phenomenon scientists call "inflammaging," the age-related increase in chronic low-grade inflammation now understood to play a central role in multiple health conditions, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, certain forms of dementia and arthritis.

"We will examine biomarkers that have been related to poorer health - chronically high inflammation, high levels of cortisol, and gene expression related to inflammation and viral load - and see how these biomarkers are related to the levels and consistency of daily social connection," Charles explains.

If daily patterns of feeling connected, or disconnected, can be shown to move those biological needles, the implications for preventive medicine could be substantial.

Why age changes everything

The study's age range: from young adults in their mid-20s to nonagenarians. Charles is particularly interested in how the relationship between social connection and health shifts as the body grows more vulnerable.

"We know from nearly 100 years of research that social connections are vitally important for people of all ages," she says. "In this study, we are particularly interested in how patterns of social connection change over time in later life, and how social connections may vary in their relationship with health among people with less robust physical systems."

As chronic illness and functional disability become more prevalent with age, she argues, the stakes of social isolation grow higher - and so does the potential benefit of meaningful daily connection.

The United States Surgeon General has called loneliness and social isolation a public health epidemic, and the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated trends toward isolation that were already underway.

Against that backdrop, Charles sees her study as doing something more than documenting a problem. She wants to change the conversation around it.

"Our research reframes a message from warning people about the risks of social isolation to acknowledging the power of positive social connections," she says. "We will be examining different contexts to reveal when and under what circumstances social connections increase our health."

Her goal is simple but potentially transformative: to make social connection a recognized daily health behavior, as concrete and actionable as exercise or diet.

"Social connection should be listed as a daily health behavior for everyone," Charles says. "Every finding that links social connection to better physical and cognitive functioning will reinforce and strengthen this message, as well as identify those most at risk for both social isolation and for the health risk of lack of social connection."

Source:

University of California - Irvine

Two omega-3s in fish oil may boost brain function in people with heart disease

 WHOM is going to do the research in stroke patients?  I can guarantee nothing will be done because we have NO LEADERSHIP AND NO STRATEGY in stroke.

Two omega-3s in fish oil may boost brain function in people with heart disease

Two omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil may help improve brain function in older adults who have a type of heart disease known to put people at risk for cognitive decline.

A new study found that DHA and EPA, given in a combined supplement at prescription levels, improved cognitive function in older adults with coronary artery disease, or CAD. It is a common type of heart disease that occurs when plaque builds up in the arteries and hinders proper blood flow. Studies have shown people with CAD have a 45% increased risk for cognitive decline.

The largest improvements in brain function were seen when higher levels of both types of omega-3 fatty acids were present in the bloodstream. When analyzed individually, DHA levels were a better predictor for cognitive improvement than EPA, suggesting the presence of one type of omega-3 fatty acid was more important than the other, the authors concluded.

"The study showed EPA adds additional benefit when DHA levels are already high," said study researcher Dr. Francine Welty, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston. "But EPA levels alone had no predictive ability for cognitive improvement."

The findings, a further analysis of data published in March in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, are being presented next Monday at the American Heart Association's virtual Scientific Sessions by Welty's colleague and lead researcher Dr. Abdulaziz Malik, a cardiology fellow at Tufts Medical Center in Boston. The findings are considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

The study included 291 adults with stable CAD. They averaged 63 years old, and 83% were men. None showed problems with cognition at the beginning of the study.

Half were given 3.36 grams of EPA and DHA combined, and half were not. All participants received cognitive function tests at baseline, one year after treatment began and at the end of 30 months. The tests measured verbal fluency, language and memory; visual motor coordination; and processing speed. Blood tests at the end of the study measured DHA and EPA levels.

The team hoped to show long-term, high-dose omega-3 fatty acids could prevent cognitive decline in people with CAD but were surprised to find the supplements did much more than that, Welty said.

"They actually showed an improvement in cognitive function," she said. Those were the results published in March.

In the new analysis, the team looked at changes in the levels of EPA and DHA in the blood of participants who took the supplements, to see if higher levels of each of the fatty acids predicted the cognitive improvements. While higher DHA aligned with better performance on cognitive tests, higher EPA levels did not seem to make a difference – except in people who had high levels of DHA to begin with, Welty said.

"Someone who wants to use fish oil supplements to improve cognitive function should get a prescription for a supplement that combines the two," Welty said. She cautioned against buying over-the-counter supplements, which are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration.

The same level of omega-3 fatty acids used in the study could not be obtained just through diet, said Penny Kris-Etherton, an Evan Pugh University professor of nutritional sciences at Penn State College of Health and Human Development in University Park.

"Getting 3.36 grams per day is hard to do just eating fish," said Kris-Etherton, who was not involved in the new study.

"You'd have to eat a lot of fatty fish every single day. One serving of fatty fish, which is 3.5 ounces of salmon, for example, has about 2.2 to 2.3 grams of omega-3 fatty acids. To get 3.36 grams per day means that you'd have to eat about 1 1/2 servings of fatty fish every day. The recommendation of two fish meals per week, including fatty fish and lean seafood like shrimp, would only get you about 0.25 gram per day, and most Americans don't even eat that much."

Omega-3 fatty acids are highest in fatty fish such as salmon, sardines, mackerel, herring, lake trout and albacore tuna. The AHA recommends eating two servings of fish per week to help reduce heart disease and stroke risk. It issued a science advisory in 2019 saying prescription fish oil supplements were a safe and effective way to lower triglycerides. The same advisory warned consumers not to take unregulated supplements.

A separate AHA science advisory issued in 2017 said omega-3 fish oil supplements may slightly lower the risk of dying after heart failure or a recent heart attack, but they do not prevent heart disease. Kris-Etherton co-authored both advisories.

"What I'm excited about is we're finding interventions that benefit cognitive function as we age," she said.

Kris-Etherton would like to see a similar study in older adults without heart disease to see if the supplements would provide a similar or greater benefit to others as they age. "Stay tuned," she said. "These are very interesting findings."

Find more news from Scientific Sessions.

If you have questions or comments about this story, please email editor@heart.org.

‘We think it’s cognitive engagement’—a study finds that delaying retirement may help ward off dementia

I totally disagree about the keep working part, been retired for almost 4 years now. Am cognitively engaged trying to solve stroke, even though no one in charge is listening to me.  When I was working I would fly out Monday morning, fly back Thursday night, wash clothes on Friday, put those clothes back into the suitcase and do it all over again. It was destroying my health.

‘We think it’s cognitive engagement’—a study finds that delaying retirement may help ward off dementia

The science behind staying busy to keep your mind sharp

It’s not necessarily paid work, but cognitive engagement that protects against dementia, the researchers say.

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We’ve all heard someone say it: they’ve decided to keep working beyond retirement age to “keep their mind sharp.” Now, that widely held notion has some science behind it.

Three researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Germany have released a study showing measurable differences in cognitive decline between those who bow out of the workforce earlier versus later in life. Some of the differences were stark.

“Oh, it’s absolutely substantial,” says Jo Mhairi Hale, a sociologist at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland and the lead author on the study.

Hale’s team drew its data from the massive Health and Retirement Study, an extensive ongoing trove of information of 20,000 Americans maintained by the University of Michigan.

What the study found about cognitive decline

The authors didn’t try to pinpoint an optimal retirement age — that would depend heavily on individual circumstances — but their results do suggest that generally speaking, sticking it out until age 67 (vs. retiring between age 55 and 66) can ward off the type of cognitive decline suffered by people with Alzheimer’s disease.

Subjects in the study averaged a one-third reduction in typical cognitive declines observed in people aged 61 to 67. What’s more, the positive effects can be enduring, say the authors, lasting from age 67 at least through age 74.

Hale says one surprising finding was that it doesn’t appear to matter what kind of work you do — whether it’s highly brain-intensive or nearly mindless. It all helps. In fact, the cognitive benefits may not be related to paid employment at all.

“The three of us who wrote the paper are not suggesting that it’s paid work per se that is protective against cognitive decline,” Hale told Next Avenue. “We think it’s cognitive engagement.”

That idea is borne out by some of the specific findings of Hale’s team, including that just having a life partner offers some protection against decline.

“What if you retire at age 60 but you’re a grandparent and part of your daily activity becomes grandparenting?” muses Hale. “Or you’re an active volunteer. Or you work part time as a museum docent or whatever. Does that provide the same sort of protective effects against cognitive decline? I would guess that it does.”

The thing that matters, Hale said, “is cognitive engagement, not that you get a paycheck for your cognitive engagement.”

Also see: Planning to retire early? Watch out for these tax traps

A 75-year-old finding ways to challenge herself

Case in point: Beverly Farr of Richmond, Calif. At 75, she’s been retired from her work as an educational researcher for more than five years, but that doesn’t mean she’s slowed down. On the contrary.

“I just liked being active and I wanted to stay active,” says Farr. “And I think a little part of that was the idea of keeping your mind active and, you know, just being active in general.”

That she has done. Today, Farr juggles church activities with being a court-appointed advocate for foster youth. She’s also taken on the daunting task of presiding over the homeowners’ association of her 488-unit condo complex. As if that weren’t enough, when her brother, Roger, died in 2019, Farr took over managing his boutique research firm part-time.

She especially credits the often thankless homeowners’ association work for keeping her on her toes.

“It just energized me,” Farr says. “It just gave me a lot of energy and a lot of excitement and drive about getting things done.”

Hale notes this kind of engagement appears to benefit men and women alike, even though prior studies have shown that men tend to be more dependent on their jobs for their personal identity and social networks. It also applies across racial and ethnic differences.

“I wasn’t surprised at all,” says the Milken Institute Center for the Future of Aging’s Paul Irving, after reviewing the study’s findings. (He’s also a Next Avenue Influencer in Aging.)

Check out: Want to share your life experiences and help others? Here’s how to do it well

The importance of purpose

“Meeting other people and engaging with other people is stimulating,” Irving says. “Work can be challenging and can provide opportunities for learning. A changing environment requires adaptability and flexibility. I think that has consequences for brain health.”

Irving says the Max Planck results help affirm earlier research, including one 2018 study that found that “positive age beliefs” can be a buffer against dementia, even in those genetically predisposed to age-related cognitive loss.

Irving points to other research that suggests factors such as purpose, connection and lifelong learning are on a par with body-mass index, smoking and exercise as determinants of longevity.

“Having some sense of challenge, having a reason to wake up in the morning — best defined as purpose,” says Irving, whose 2014 book, “The Upside of Aging,” emphasized the importance of the “P-word.”

“This notion of purpose throughout life, but particularly the realization of purpose later in life, just couldn’t be more important,” says Irving. “And that can be achieved in many ways. We all define our own purpose, and it might be family or community activity or volunteering. But work can very much be part of that.”

People who feel a sense of purpose, are engaged and continue to involve themselves in the world, Irving adds, tend to be happier and healthier.

“And the corollary benefit is that they’re continuing to provide value — their wisdom and judgment and experience — which benefits all of us, young people as well,” notes Irving.

You might like: Why my retirement won’t include a ‘bucket list’

Hale’s major takeaway from her team’s results: “I think what we could say is that you need to stay cognitively engaged, like basically forever, as long as you can. And honestly, that’s not about doing crossword puzzles. I mean, do your crossword puzzles, but cognitive engagement needs to be seen much more broadly. Our paper suggests that full-time work is one way to do that.”