4 Ways To Build A Brain Bank & Prevent Cognitive Decline, From An Integrative Neurologist

Cognitive decline and even just normal brain changes associated with aging threaten to impact our memories and way of thinking—two things we very much want to hold on to as long as possible. But some people are more resilient to signs of memory loss than others, even when there's physiologic evidence of memory loss. 

"In simple terms, cognitive reserve is the brain's ability to improvise and find alternate ways of getting a job done," says integrative neurologist Romie Mushtaq, M.D., ABIHM.

The brain is quite adaptable, and there's no one path to the finish line of remembering a story or staying on task. Autopsy studies in the 1980s started to show that there were people who had structural brain changes consistent with dementia1, but they had no actual symptoms in real life. “It was found they had cognitive reserves or a well-developed brain bank,” says Mushtaq.

In a sense, when dementia started to rob one part of the brain, the organ had enough cash on hand to not let that loss derail its function. 

Since the 1980s, “Research has shown that people with greater cognitive reserves are better able to stave off symptoms of degenerative brain changes or neuroinflammation associated with dementia or other brain diseases2, such as Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, or a stroke,” asserts Mushtaq. 

According to Mushtaq, a brain bank is really built over a lifetime of education and curiosity—beginning in childhood4. 

Research on cognitive reserves is still very much evolving. Interest is only increasing as dementia cases are expected to triple5 by 2050.