Cognitive reserve and the prevention of dementia: The role of physical and cognitive activities

Cheng, Sheung-Tak (2016) Cognitive reserve and the prevention of dementia: The role of physical and cognitive activities. Current Psychiatry Reports, 18. ISSN 1523-3812

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Abstract

Purpose of Review: The article discusses the two most significant modifiable risk factors for dementia, namely, physical inactivity and lack of stimulating cognitive activity, and their effects on developing cognitive reserve. Recent Findings: Both of these leisure-time activities were associated with significant reductions in the risk of dementia in longitudinal studies. In addition, physical activity, particularly aerobic exercise, is associated with less age-related gray and white matter loss and with less neurotoxic factors. On the other hand, cognitive training studies suggest that training for executive functions (e.g., working memory) improves prefrontal network efficiency, which provides support to brain functioning in the face of cognitive decline. Summary: While physical activity preserves neuronal structural integrity and brain volume (hardware), cognitive activity strengthens the functioning and plasticity of neural circuits (software), thus supporting cognitive reserve in different ways. Future research should examine whether lifestyle interventions incorporating these two domains can reduce incident dementia.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
Uncontrolled Keywords:	dementia,cognitive reserve,physical activity,cognitive activity
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School
Depositing User:	Pure Connector
Date Deposited:	24 Sep 2016 00:20
Last Modified:	11 May 2023 18:30
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/59992
DOI:	10.1007/s11920-016-0721-2

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