A new study shows an association between brain shrinkage and social isolation. <\/p>
Want to be more socially fit<\/a>? Well, more frequent interactions with your loved ones could help to protect your brain from dementia<\/a>, according to a new study.<\/p>\n Scientists at Kyushu University, Japan, have discovered that lonelier old people are likely to lose more of their brain volume as they age<\/a> \u2013 including the part of their brain affected by dementia. Dementia is a disease that affects memory<\/a> and the ability to perform day-to-day activities.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, people with more frequent social contact are less likely to suffer from brain shrinkage.<\/p>\n \u201cSocial isolation is a growing problem for older adults,\u201d said Dr Toshiharu Ninomiya<\/a>, author of the study published in the journal Neuroscience<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cThese results suggest that providing support for people to help them start and maintain their connections to others may be beneficial for preventing brain atrophy [shrinkage] and the development of dementia.\u201d<\/p>\n The 8,896 participants \u2013 with an average age of 73 \u2013 had MRI brain scans and health exams. None of the participants had been diagnosed with dementia.<\/p>\n The participants were asked about the frequency of their social interactions in person or on the phone with friends and relatives not living with them.<\/p>\n People with the least social contact had the smallest brain volume at 67.3 per cent \u2013 whereas the most social group had the highest brain volume at 67.8 per cent. This percentage indicates the total proportion of white and grey matter \u2013 some of the most important bits of the brain \u2013 within the total volume of the brain.<\/p>\n The scientists also discovered that the more socially isolated participants also had minor damage known as white matter lesions to parts of their brains.<\/p>\n Social connections of various kinds are vital not just to our emotional wellbeing, but to our physical health too. Having good \u2018social fitness\u2019 is key to being in good shape \u2013 both physically and mentally.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile this study is a snapshot in time and does not determine that social isolation causes brain atrophy, some studies have shown that exposing older people to socially stimulating groups stopped or even reversed declines in brain volume and improved thinking and memory skills,\u201d Ninomiya said.<\/p>\n \u201cSo it\u2019s possible that interventions to improve people\u2019s social isolation could prevent brain volume loss and the dementia that often follows.\u201d<\/p>\n The study\u2019s sample size consisted entirely of older Japanese participants. Further research will be needed to establish whether the results also apply to people of other ethnicities and younger people.<\/p>\n Read more:<\/p>\n A new study shows an association between brain shrinkage and social isolation. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":30030,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"3"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/07\/how-to-keep-your-brain-young-scientists-uncover-key-link-between-dementia-and-your-social-interactions.jpg",1200,513,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/07\/how-to-keep-your-brain-young-scientists-uncover-key-link-between-dementia-and-your-social-interactions-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/07\/how-to-keep-your-brain-young-scientists-uncover-key-link-between-dementia-and-your-social-interactions-300x128.jpg",300,128,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/07\/how-to-keep-your-brain-young-scientists-uncover-key-link-between-dementia-and-your-social-interactions-768x328.jpg",768,328,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/07\/how-to-keep-your-brain-young-scientists-uncover-key-link-between-dementia-and-your-social-interactions-1024x438.jpg",800,342,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/07\/how-to-keep-your-brain-young-scientists-uncover-key-link-between-dementia-and-your-social-interactions.jpg",1200,513,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/07\/how-to-keep-your-brain-young-scientists-uncover-key-link-between-dementia-and-your-social-interactions.jpg",1200,513,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"A new study shows an association between brain shrinkage and social isolation.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/30029"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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