New research suggests certain self-care acts may make for a younger brain.
A few small acts of self-care — being optimistic, having strong social support, getting restorative sleep, limiting stress — can support your mental and emotional health in a meaningful way.
And, according to a new University of Florida study published in the journal Brain Communications, these behaviors could make for a younger brain, too.
The Context
Brain aging, marked by loss of tissue volume and typically estimated by using MRI scans and machine learning models, is inevitable. But not every brain ages synchronously with chronological age.
Factors such as chronic pain, depression, and poor metabolic health can all widen the “brain age gap,” the difference between a person’s chronological age and their predicted brain age. Accelerated brain aging has been associated with increased risk of dementia, mortality, and other neurological and psychiatric conditions.
But, according to the University of Florida study authors, the available investigations focusing on brain aging in people living with chronic pain haven’t considered the influence of other environmental, social, psychological, or behavioral factors, either at an individual or community level. In other words, a “whole-person” approach to this research is needed, per the authors.
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The Details
The researchers worked with 128 participants aged 45 to 85, many of whom reported knee pain and had or were at risk of osteoarthritis. To pinpoint which factors might speed up or slow down brain aging, the researchers collected from participants socioenvironmental data (e.g., education, income, marital and insurance status, neighborhood resources), as well as behavioral and psychosocial information (e.g., tobacco use, optimism, positive and negative affect, stress, social support, sleep impairment).
At the start of the study and at a two-year follow-up, the participants also received an MRI brain scan, which was used to predict brain age. This number was then compared to the participant’s chronological age to determine their brain age gap.
The Key Findings
Your environment and your lifestyle do seem to influence brain aging.
The investigation found that people who had more socioenvironmental risk factors — living at or below poverty, lacking insurance, having a lower education level, for example — had older brain ages than those with fewer risk factors. The highest-risk individuals’ brains were roughly four and a half years older than those of the lowest-risk participants.
On the flip side, behavioral and psychosocial protective factors (e.g., having greater optimism, lower perceived stress, less sleep impairment, more social support) were linked to smaller brain age gaps. This held true even when accounting for chronic pain severity and socioenvironmental risk. The individuals with the most protective factors at the beginning of the study had brains that were about eight years younger than their chronological age — and their brains aged more slowly over the two-year span.
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The Impact
Your brain age is influenced by a host of factors that may not be in your control, whether it be income, resource access, or chronic pain. But adopting health-promoting behaviors at an individual level could still help buffer against brain aging, according to the findings. “You can learn how to perceive stress differently. Poor sleep is very treatable. Optimism can be practiced," Jared Tanner, Ph.D., a lead study author, said in a press release.
The Expert Insight
Kimberly Sibille, Ph.D., a senior author of the report, stated in a press release: "Literally for every additional healthy promoting factor there is some evidence of neurobiological benefit. Our findings support the growing body of evidence that lifestyle is medicine."
The Caveat
Although the study showed the significant influence of lifestyle on brain aging, it spanned just two years and was limited to fewer than 200 participants. The authors point out that additional long-term studies are needed to better understand brain aging and how other lifestyle, socioenvironmental, and behavioral factors affect it over time.
The participants in this research all experienced chronic musculoskeletal pain, so the results can’t be directly applied to the general population. That said, the authors note that the protective factors could help counteract brain aging outside of the studied population, too, as the impact of the protective factors was observed even when chronic pain was considered.
The good news: The health-promoting behaviors are easy to implement. Join your Club’s basketball league. Take a Headstrong: Reset class. Make a mantra. The benefits will go far beyond the brain.