Sharp Brains: Brain Fitness and Cognitive Health News

Jul 23, 2007

Build Your Cognitive Reserve-Yaakov Stern

By: Alvaro Fernandez

Yaakov SternDr. Yaakov Stern is the Divi­sion Leader of the Cog­ni­tive Neu­ro­science Divi­sion of the Sergievsky Cen­ter, and Pro­fes­sor of Clin­i­cal Neu­ropsy­chol­ogy, at the Col­lege of Physi­cians and Sur­geons of Colum­bia Uni­ver­sity, New York.

He is one of the lead­ing pro­po­nents of the Cog­ni­tive reserve the­ory, which aims to explain why some indi­vid­u­als with full Alzheimer’s pathol­ogy (accu­mu­la­tion of plaques and tan­gles in their brains) can keep nor­mal lives until they die, while oth­ers –with the same amount of plaques and tan­gles– dis­play the severe symp­toms we asso­ciate with Alzheimer’s Dis­ease. He has pub­lished dozens of peer-reviewed sci­en­tific papers on the subject.

The con­cept of a Cog­ni­tive Reserve has been around since 1989, when a post mortem analy­sis of 137 peo­ple with Alzheimer’s Dis­ease showed that some patients exhib­ited fewer clin­i­cal symp­toms than their actual pathol­ogy sug­gested. These patients also showed higher brain weights and greater num­ber of neu­rons when com­pared to age-matched con­trols. The inves­ti­ga­tors hypoth­e­sized that the patients had a larger “reserve” of neu­rons and abil­i­ties that enable them to off­set the losses caused by Alzheimer’s. Since then, the con­cept of Cog­ni­tive Reserve has been defined as the abil­ity of an indi­vid­ual to tol­er­ate pro­gres­sive brain pathol­ogy with­out demon­strat­ing clin­i­cal cog­ni­tive symp­toms. (You can check at the end of this inter­view a great clip on this).

———————————

Key take-aways

- Life­time expe­ri­ences, like edu­ca­tion, engag­ing occu­pa­tion, and leisure activ­i­ties, have been shown to have a major influ­ence on how we age, specif­i­cally on whether we will develop Alzheimer’s symp­toms or not.

- This is so because stim­u­lat­ing activ­i­ties, ide­ally com­bin­ing phys­i­cal exer­cise, learn­ing and social inter­ac­tion, help us build a Cog­ni­tive Reserve to pro­tect us.

- The ear­lier we start build­ing our Reserve, the bet­ter; but it is never too late to start. And, the more activ­i­ties, the bet­ter: the effect is cumulative.

———————————

The Cog­ni­tive Reserve

Alvaro Fer­nan­dez (AF): Dear Dr. Stern, it is a plea­sure to have you here. Let me first ask you this: the impli­ca­tions of your research are pretty astound­ing, pre­sent­ing major impli­ca­tions across sec­tors and age groups. What has been the most unex­pected reac­tion so far?

YS: well…I was pretty sur­prised when, years ago, a reporter from Sev­en­teen mag­a­zine requested an inter­view. I was really curi­ous to learn why she felt that her read­ers would be inter­ested in stud­ies about demen­tia. What she told me showed a deep under­stand­ing and insight: she wanted to moti­vate chil­dren to stay in school. She under­stood that early social inter­ven­tions could be very pow­er­ful for build­ing reserve and pre­vent­ing dementia.

AF: That’s great…so let’s now fast for­ward, say, 60 years from our high-school years, and sup­pose that per­sons A and B both tech­ni­cally have Alzheimer’s (plaques and tan­gles appear in the brain), but only A is show­ing the dis­ease symp­toms. What may explain this discrepancy?

YS: Indi­vid­u­als who lead men­tally stim­u­lat­ing lives, through edu­ca­tion, occu­pa­tion and leisure activ­i­ties, have reduced risk of devel­op­ing Alzheimer’s. Stud­ies sug­gest that they have 35–40% less risk of man­i­fest­ing the dis­ease. The pathol­ogy will still occur, but they are able to cope with it bet­ter. Some won’t ever be diag­nosed with Alzheimer’s because they don’t present any symp­toms. In stud­ies that fol­low healthy elders over time and then get autop­sies, up to 20% of peo­ple who did not present any sig­nif­i­cant prob­lem in the daily lives have full blown Alzheimer’s pathol­ogy in their brains.

AF: What exactly may be going on in the brain that pro­vides that level of protection?

YS: There are two ideas that are com­ple­men­tary. One idea (called Brain Reserve by researchers) pos­tu­lates that some indi­vid­u­als have a greater num­ber of neu­rons and synapses, and that some­how those extra struc­tures pro­vide a level of pro­tec­tion. In a sense, we have more “hard­ware”, pro­vid­ing a pas­sive pro­tec­tion against the attacks of Alzheimer’s. The other the­ory (called Cog­ni­tive Reserve) empha­sizes the build­ing of new capa­bil­i­ties, how peo­ple can per­form tasks bet­ter through prac­tice, and how these skills become so well learned that they are not too easy to unlearn. Like devel­op­ing new and refined “software”.

AF: But, both seem to go hand in hand, cor­rect? Neu­ro­plas­tic­ity means that what you call “hard­ware” and “soft­ware” are two sides of the same coin and they influ­ence each other, right?

YS: Cor­rect. So these days we don’t make a sharp dis­tinc­tion, and are con­duct­ing more neu­roimag­ing stud­ies to bet­ter under­stand the rela­tion­ship between both.

Build­ing Your Cog­ni­tive Reserve

AF: OK, so our goal is to build that Reserve of neu­rons, synapses, and skills. How can we do that? What defines “men­tally stim­u­lat­ing activ­i­ties” or good “brain exercise”?

YS: In sum­mary, we could say that “stim­u­la­tion” con­sists of engag­ing in activ­i­ties. In our research almost all activ­i­ties are seen to con­tribute to reserve. Some have chal­leng­ing lev­els of cog­ni­tive com­plex­ity, and some have inter­per­sonal or phys­i­cal demands. In ani­mal stud­ies, expo­sure to an enriched envi­ron­ment or increased phys­i­cal activ­ity result in increased neu­ro­ge­n­e­sis (the cre­ation of new neu­rons). You can get that stim­u­la­tion through edu­ca­tion and/ or your occu­pa­tion. There is clear research show­ing how those two ele­ments reduce the risk. Now, what is very excit­ing is that, no mat­ter one’s age, edu­ca­tion and occu­pa­tion, our level of par­tic­i­pa­tion in leisure activ­i­ties has a sig­nif­i­cant and cumu­la­tive effect. A key mes­sage here is that dif­fer­ent activ­i­ties have inde­pen­dent, syn­er­gis­tic, con­tri­bu­tions, which means the more things you do and the ear­lier you start, the bet­ter. But you are never stuck: bet­ter late than never.

AF: Can you give us some exam­ples of those leisure activ­i­ties that seem to have the most pos­i­tive effects?

YS: For our 2001 study we eval­u­ated the effect of 13 activ­i­ties, com­bin­ing intel­lec­tual, phys­i­cal, and social ele­ments. Some of the activ­i­ties with the most effect were read­ing, vis­it­ing friends or rel­a­tives, going to movies or restau­rants, and walk­ing for plea­sure or going on an excur­sion. As you can see, a vari­ety. We saw that the group with high level of leisure activ­i­ties pre­sented 38% less risk (con­trol­ling for other fac­tors) of devel­op­ing Alzheimer’s symp­toms. And that, for each addi­tional type of activ­ity, the risk got reduced by 8%. There is an addi­tional ele­ment that we are start­ing to see more clearly. Phys­i­cal exer­cise, by itself, also has a very ben­e­fi­cial impact on cog­ni­tion. Only a few months ago researchers were able to show for the first time how phys­i­cal activ­ity pro­motes neu­ro­ge­n­e­sis in the human brain. So, we need both men­tal and phys­i­cal exer­cise. The not-so-good news is that, as of today, there no clear recipe for suc­cess. More research is needed before we pre­pare a sys­tem­atic set of inter­ven­tions that can help max­i­mize our protection.

AF: We typ­i­cally empha­size the impor­tance of a good nutri­tion, phys­i­cal exer­cise, stress man­age­ment and men­tal exer­cise that presents nov­elty, vari­ety and chal­lenge. What do you think of the rel­a­tively recent appear­ance of so many computer-based cog­ni­tive train­ing pro­grams, some more science-based than others?

YS: Those ele­ments you men­tion make sense. The prob­lem is that, at least from the point of view of Alzheimer’s, we can­not be much more spe­cific. We don’t know if learn­ing a new lan­guage is more ben­e­fi­cial than learn­ing a new musi­cal instru­ment or using a computer-based pro­gram. A few of the cog­ni­tive train­ing com­puter pro­grams we have seen, like the one you dis­cussed with Prof. Daniel Gopher to train the men­tal abil­i­ties of pilots, seem to have clear effects on cog­ni­tion, gen­er­al­iz­ing beyond the train­ing itself. But, for the most part, it is too early to tell the long-term effects. We need bet­ter designed clin­i­cal tri­als with clear con­trols. Right now, the most we can say is that those who lead men­tally stim­u­lat­ing lives, through edu­ca­tion, occu­pa­tion and leisure activ­i­ties seem to have the least risk of devel­op­ing Alzheimer’s Disease.

Research inter­ests

AF: Tell us know a bit more about your cur­rent research

YS: We are study­ing a num­ber of related areas, apply­ing neu­roimag­ing tech­niques to under­stand how exactly all these Cog­ni­tive Reserve con­cepts are imple­mented in the brain.

One, we want to under­stand indi­vid­ual dif­fer­ences in how peo­ple approach tasks. We want to mea­sure their effi­ciency and capac­ity the brain net­works that medi­ate tasks per­for­mance with the idea that those with greater effi­ciency and capac­ity might cope bet­ter with age-related prob­lems. For exam­ple, we can all under­stand that a com­pet­i­tive swim­mer is going to swim bet­ter than I would even if he has some weights in his legs, but we haven’t yet iden­ti­fied what exactly is the equiv­a­lent in the brain.

Sec­ond, we want to under­stand how old peo­ple com­pen­sate for the areas of decline. For exam­ple, do they begin to use new brain areas when the ones that are typ­i­cally used start to fail.

Third, whether the Cog­ni­tive Reserve presents ben­e­fits beyond the pre­ven­tion of Alzheimer’s symp­toms. Does hav­ing a higher reserve result in bet­ter atten­tion, bet­ter exec­u­tive func­tions, more suc­cess­ful aging overall?

AF: All very impor­tant top­ics. And I am sure every­one read­ing this inter­view will devour any new details on how to build our Cog­ni­tive Reserves. Thank you for your time, and please keep us informed.

YS: My plea­sure. Thank you for your great edu­ca­tional initiative.

————————————

Great related video on the Nun Study:

[youtube nw2lafKIEio]

Fur­ther sci­en­tific reading

Stern Y. Cog­ni­tive reserve and Alzheimer dis­ease. Alzheimer Dis Assoc Dis­ord. 2006, 20:112–117.

Scarmeas N, Albert SM, Manly J, Stern Y. Edu­ca­tion and rates of cog­ni­tive decline in inci­dent Alzheimer’s dis­ease. Jour­nal of Neu­rol­ogy, Neu­ro­surgery, and Psy­chi­a­try, 2006;77:308–316.

Scarmeas N, Stern Y. Cog­ni­tive reserve and lifestyle. J Clin Exp Neu­ropsy­chol 2003;5:625–633.

Stern Y, Zarahn E, Hilton HJ, Flynn J, DeLa Paz R, Rak­itin B. Explor­ing the neural basis of cog­ni­tive reserve. J Clin Exp Neu­ropsy­chol 2003;5:691–701.

A few related links

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Categories: Cognitive Neuroscience, Health & Wellness, Neuroscience Interview Series

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34 Responses

  1. Illiteracy kills at Joanne Jacobs says:
    July 24, 2007 at 11:50

    […] To keep men­tally sharp in old age, build your “cog­ni­tive reserve.” […]

  2. » Beating forgetfulness and boosting the brain   « Brain Fitness Revolution at SharpBrains      says:
    July 25, 2007 at 10:51

    […] If you want a sci­en­tific per­spec­tive on the healthy aging part, you’ll enjoy our recent inter­view with Yaakov Stern on Building Your Cog­ni­tive Reserve. Learn More about Brain Fit­ness Join our Mes­sage Boards Find the Right Pro­gram Tags: age related mem­ory prob­lems, baby boomer health, brain fit­ness mar­ket, Brain Fit­ness Soft­ware, brain train­ing infor­ma­tion, brain train­ing prod­ucts, cog­ni­tive enhanc­ing, depres­sion or anx­i­ety, healthy aging Gene Cohen, Nin­tendo Brain Age, Posit Sci­ence, pro­fes­sion­als man­age stress […]

  3. Carnival of Positive Thinking says:
    July 29, 2007 at 8:46

    […] Alvaro Fer­nan­dez presents Yaakov Stern: Build Your Cog­ni­tive Reserve posted at Sharp­Brains, say­ing, “How we can build our Cog­ni­tive Reserve-and why” […]

  4. purple motes » COB-13: meetings bring people together says:
    July 29, 2007 at 8:53

    […] Alvaro Fer­nan­dez at Brain Health Blog inter­views Yaakov Stern about how to build your cog­ni­tive reserve. Dr. Stern states: the group with high level of leisure activ­i­ties pre­sented 38% less risk (con­trol­ling for other fac­tors) of devel­op­ing Alzheimer’s symptoms. […]

  5. » Exercise Your Brain! Enjoy Learning!    « Brain Fitness Revolution at SharpBrains      says:
    July 30, 2007 at 9:28

    […] See a cou­ple of quotes from my recent inter­view with Yaakov Stern on the Cognitive Reserve. […]

  6. Health Business Blog » Blog Archive » Grand Rounds 3:45 says:
    July 30, 2007 at 9:06

    […] Exer­cise, learn­ing and social inter­ac­tion may help peo­ple estab­lish a “cog­ni­tive reserve” to off­set the impact of Alzheimer’s, accord­ing to Sharp Brains. And folic acid may not actu­ally pre­vent or treat Alzheimer’s. Rather “the link between high folate and lower risk of Alzheimer’s may really be due to exer­cise,” says The Tan­gled Neuron. […]

  7. Science Blog » Blog Archive » Yet Another Compelling Reason Not to Work So Hard says:
    July 31, 2007 at 7:01

    […] Read this inter­view with Dr. Stern on Sharp Brains, to learn more about build­ing up your “cog­ni­tive reserves.” […]

  8. Mom Is Teaching » Blog Archive » Carnival of Homeschooling #83 says:
    July 31, 2007 at 7:02

    […] Alvaro Fer­nan­dez tells us about an unex­pected ben­e­fit of edu­ca­tion: longer brain health in Yaakov Stern: Build Your Cog­ni­tive Reserve posted at Brain Health blog. […]

  9. Kim says:
    July 31, 2007 at 9:06

    What a great inter­view! And the video at the end was very inspiring!

  10. bohemian scientist » Blog Archive » Encephalon 28: Neuroscience Blarnival! says:
    July 31, 2007 at 2:37

    […] alvaro at sharp­brains records an inter­view with yaakov stern, a colum­bia doc who stud­ies alzheimer’s. he has tried to tackle a cen­tral para­dox in the dis­ease: pathol­ogy with­out pre­sen­ta­tion. it’s like DC, only weirder. […]

  11. Tangled Bank 85 - The Reductionist’s Tale « Migrations says:
    August 1, 2007 at 4:02

    […] Yaakov Stern: Build Your Cog­ni­tive Reserve — Alvaro inter­views a researcher study­ing the rela­tion­ship of Alzheimer’s Dis­ease and the abil­ity to tol­er­ate pro­gres­sive brain pathol­ogy with­out demon­strat­ing clin­i­cal cog­ni­tive symp­toms in some patients. At Sharp Brains. […]

  12. A cognitive reserve in Alzheimer’s? « Ouroboros says:
    August 3, 2007 at 12:40

    […] 3, 2007 A cog­ni­tive reserve in Alzheimer’s? Posted by ouroboros under Alzheimer’s  At Sharp­Brains, Alvaro Fer­nan­dez has an inter­view with­Yaakov Stern, a lead­ing pro­po­nent of the “cog­ni­tive reserve” the­ory of Alzheimer’s dis­ease: which aims to explain why some indi­vid­u­als with full Alzheimer’s pathol­ogy (accu­mu­la­tion of plaques and tan­gles in their brains) can keep nor­mal lives until they die, while oth­ers –with the same amount of plaques and tan­gles– dis­play the severe symp­toms we asso­ciate with Alzheimer’s Disease. […]

  13. Music & Piano lessons carnival 1st Edition says:
    August 4, 2007 at 4:02

    […] Alvaro Fer­nan­dez presents Yaakov Stern: Build Your Cog­ni­tive Reserve posted at Sharp­Brains, say­ing, “Unex­pected ben­e­fit from music and piano lessons: longer brain health…” — […]

  14. Carnival of Creative Growth #11 | Energies of Creation says:
    August 5, 2007 at 11:26

    […] Alvaro Fer­nan­dez presents Yaakov Stern: Build Your Cog­ni­tive Reserve posted at Sharp­Brains, say­ing, “Why cre­ative growth oppor­tu­ni­ties may be great for our brain.” […]

  15. » Physical and Brain Exercise Boost Memory    « Brain Fitness Revolution at SharpBrains      says:
    August 6, 2007 at 9:47

    […] We dis­cussed this topic in more depth in my inter­view on Build­ing Your Cog­ni­tive Reserve with Dr. Yaakov Stern and in the dia­logue with Dr. Michael Merzenich that included featuring the pio­neer­ing work of Dr. Mar­ian Diamond. […]

  16. » Brain Exercise and Brain Fitness July Monthly Digest   « Brain Fitness Revolution at SharpBrains      says:
    August 6, 2007 at 10:17

    […] Inter­view with Neu­ro­sci­en­tist Yaakov Stern: Build Your Cog­ni­tive Reserve  […]

  17. BNET Intercom » How to Boost Your Memory on BNET says:
    August 8, 2007 at 3:33

    […] So, if you’ve already been hit­ting the gym and are just in need of adding men­tal exer­cise, what sort of activ­i­ties will give you the max­i­mum ben­e­fit? In an inter­view on the sharpbrains.com blog, Dr. Yaakov Stern of the Col­lege of Physi­cians and Sur­geons of Colum­bia Uni­ver­sity, who has researched the sub­ject, pre­scribes “read­ing, vis­it­ing friends or rel­a­tives, going to movies or restau­rants… or going on an excursion.” […]

  18. Change of Shift: Volume II, Number 4 // Emergiblog says:
    August 8, 2007 at 8:34

    […] If you missed this in Grand Rounds a week ago, catch this rerun of Yaakov Stern: Build Your Cog­ni­tive Reserve posted by Alvaro Fer­nan­dez at Brain Fit­ness Blog. Alvaro is not a nurse, but he writes about brains and nurses most def­i­nitely have them (Fifty doc­tors just thought of a joke to insert right here…you know you did! That’s okay, I thought of a few, myself!). […]

  19. FZ Blogs » Daha saÄŸlıklı bir yaÅŸam ve zihin için… says:
    August 9, 2007 at 7:02

    […] Mind Hacks ve Neurontic‘ten öğrendiÄŸim bu röportajda, Prof. Dr. Yaakov Stern, kap­samlı araÅŸtırmacılar sonu­cunda ilerleyen yaÅŸta halen saÄŸlıklı bir zihne ve kolay kolay yıpranmayan bir hafıza için en iÅŸe yarar aktiviteler lis­tesinde ÅŸunları sıralamış: Kitap oku­mak, akra­baları veya arkadaÅŸları ziyaret edip onlarla sosyal etkileÅŸime girmek, sinema veya lokan­taya git­mek, zevk için yürüyüş yapmak. […]

  20. Brain Blogging, Fourteenth Edition | GNIF Brain Blogger says:
    August 9, 2007 at 8:46

    […] Alvaro Fer­nan­dez presents Yaakov Stern: Build Your Cog­ni­tive Reserve posted at Sharp­Brains, say­ing, “How we can build a Cog­ni­tive Reserve-and why.” […]

  21. Joyful Gardener says:
    August 15, 2007 at 12:22

    […] Alvaro Fer­nan­dez presents Yaakov Stern: Build Your Cog­ni­tive Reserve posted at Sharp­Brains, say­ing, “Why leisure activ­i­ties such as gar­den­ing may be so good for our brains.” […]

  22. August Stamping Mad Arts and Crafts Carnival says:
    August 15, 2007 at 2:47

    […] Alvaro Fer­nan­dez presents Yaakov Stern: Build Your Cog­ni­tive Reserve posted at Sharp­Brains, say­ing, “Why activ­i­ties such as arts and crafts can be so good for our brains.” […]

  23. » Brain Training Games and "Games"   « Brain Fitness Revolution at SharpBrains      says:
    August 16, 2007 at 8:46

    […] Dr. Yaakov Stern on Why and How To Build Your Cog­ni­tive Reserve-Yaakov Stern […]

  24. » 10 Habits of Highly Effective Brains   « Brain Fitness Revolution at SharpBrains      says:
    August 22, 2007 at 6:09

    […] Develop and maintain stimulating friendships. We are “social ani­mals”, and need social inter­ac­tion. Which, by the way, is why ‘Baby Einstein’ has been shown not to be the panacea for chil­dren development. […]

  25. » Feed Your Brain with Fun Neuroscience   « Brain Fitness Revolution at SharpBrains      says:
    August 27, 2007 at 5:07

    […] “Indi­vid­u­als who lead men­tally stim­u­lat­ing lives, through edu­ca­tion, occu­pa­tion and leisure activ­i­ties, have reduced risk of devel­op­ing Alzheimer’s symp­toms. Stud­ies sug­gest that they have 35–40% less risk of man­i­fest­ing the dis­ease”- Dr. Yaakov Stern, Divi­sion Leader of the Cog­ni­tive Neu­ro­science Divi­sion of the Sergievsky Cen­ter at the Col­lege of Physi­cians and Sur­geons of Colum­bia Uni­ver­sity, New York: Read Inter­view Notes […]

  26. pacificnorthwestboating.com » Blog Archive » Boating Carnival August 2007 says:
    September 4, 2007 at 9:58

    […] Alvaro Fer­nan­dez presents Yaakov Stern: Build Your Cog­ni­tive Reserve , say­ing, “Why activ­i­ties such as boat­ing can be so good for our brains.” […]

  27. » 11 Neuroscience Quotes that Will Change Your Views on "Brain Training"   « Brain Fitness Revolution at SharpBrains      says:
    September 6, 2007 at 6:04

    […] “Indi­vid­u­als who lead men­tally stim­u­lat­ing lives, through edu­ca­tion, occu­pa­tion and leisure activ­i­ties, have reduced risk of devel­op­ing Alzheimer’s symp­toms. Stud­ies sug­gest that they have 35–40% less risk of man­i­fest­ing the dis­ease”- Dr. Yaakov Stern, Divi­sion Leader of the Cog­ni­tive Neu­ro­science Divi­sion of the Sergievsky Cen­ter at the Col­lege of Physi­cians and Sur­geons of Colum­bia Uni­ver­sity, New York. Full Inter­view Notes. […]

  28. » UC-Berkeley Osher Lifelong Learning Institute   « Brain Fitness Revolution at SharpBrains      says:
    October 26, 2007 at 6:35

    […] — Build Your Cog­ni­tive Reserve-Yaakov Stern: which talks about the Cog­ni­tive Reserve and Alzheimer’s symp­toms, and includes a great clip on the famous “nun study”. […]

  29. » Cognitive Fitness @ Harvard Business Review   « Brain Fitness Revolution at SharpBrains      says:
    October 30, 2007 at 7:58

    […] — “Indi­vid­u­als who lead men­tally stim­u­lat­ing lives, through edu­ca­tion, occu­pa­tion and leisure activ­i­ties, have reduced risk of devel­op­ing Alzheimer’s symp­toms. Stud­ies sug­gest that they have 35–40% less risk of man­i­fest­ing the dis­ease”- Dr. Yaakov Stern, Divi­sion Leader of the Cog­ni­tive Neu­ro­science Divi­sion of the Sergievsky Cen­ter at the Col­lege of Physi­cians and Sur­geons of Colum­bia Uni­ver­sity, New York. Full Inter­view Notes. […]

  30. » Jogging our Brains for Brain Vitality and Healthy Aging   « Brain Fitness Revolution at SharpBrains      says:
    December 12, 2007 at 3:37

    […] Com­ment: you can read our in-depth inter­view with Dr. Yaakov Stern here on how to build our cog­ni­tive reserves. And this arti­cle that sum­ma­rizes much of the recent research on Ten Impor­tant Truths About Aging. addthis_url = ‘http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sharpbrains.com%2Fblog%2F2007%2F12%2F12%2Fjogging-our-brains-for-brain-vitality-and-healthy-aging%2F’; addthis_title = ‘Jogging+our+Brains+for+Brain+Vitality+and+Healthy+Aging’; addthis_pub = ‘sharp­brains’; Learn More about Brain Fit­ness About Our Sem­i­nars Find the Right Pro­gram Tags: Alzheimers, Barry Gor­don, brain, Brain Fit­ness 2.0, cog­ni­tive exer­cise, cog­ni­tive reserve, con­cen­tra­tionlearn­ing, demen­tia, Eliz­a­beth Zelin­ski, Geron­to­log­i­cal Soci­ety of Amer­ica, ginkgo biloba, health, healthy aging, jog­ging mem­ory, men­tal and phys­i­cal activ­ity, Men­tal Reserves, Posit Sci­ence, self con­trol, stress and anx­i­ety, Willpower […]

  31. » Cognitive Reserve and Intellectually Demanding Jobs   « Brain Fitness Revolution at SharpBrains      says:
    December 26, 2007 at 9:15

    […] This is con­sis­tent with the Cog­ni­tive Reserve the­ory we dis­cussed in the inter­view with neuroscientist Yaakov Stern: — AF (Alvaro Fer­nan­dez): OK, so our goal is to build that Reserve of neu­rons, synapses, and skills. How can we do that? What defines “men­tally stim­u­lat­ing activ­i­ties” or good “brain exercise”? […]

  32. » Cognitive Reserve and Lifestyle   « Brain Fitness Revolution at SharpBrains      says:
    January 6, 2008 at 6:03

    […] Update: we now have an in-depth inter­view with Yaakov Stern, lead­ing advo­cate of the cog­ni­tive reserve the­ory, and one of the authors of the paper we review below: click on Build Your Cog­ni­tive Reserve-Yaakov Stern.  […]

  33. » Clinical Trial: Seeking Older Adults   « Brain Fitness Revolution at SharpBrains      says:
    January 10, 2008 at 3:36

    […] Neu­ro­sci­en­tists at Colum­bia Uni­ver­sity Med­ical Cen­ter (see our pre­vi­ous inter­view with Yaakov Stern on the Cog­ni­tive Reserve) have asked for help in recruit­ing vol­un­teers for an excit­ing clin­i­cal trial. If you are based in New York City, and between the ages of 60 and 75, please con­sider join­ing this study. […]

  34. Gary D says:
    October 21, 2008 at 9:18

    Absolutely fas­ci­nat­ing. I never thought about brain reserve. The nun video was awe­some! It really got me moti­vated to get back to exer­cise. Not just my body, but my brain too. Thanks for post­ing this information!!

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