Supportive listening reduces Alzheimer's risk

In Beating the Dementia Monster, we said that social isolation not only increases the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease but also of worsening it.  I cited a neurologist who told me that, in his experience, older people with cognitive challenges did best when they maintained social connections.  When I was originally diagnosed, I was told, "Don't quit your job!"  Continuing to work would maintain social connection and help resist progress of the disease.  But why should this be important?  What happens in the brain during social interaction that counters Alzheimer's disease?

I recently came across an interesting article in JAMA Neurology.  (JAMA used to be the Journal of the American Medical Association.)  The article reported on a study that found supportive listening specifically influenced cognition, while the other kinds of social support did not.  The article appeared August 16, and was entitled "Association of Social Support With Brain Volume and Cognition."

One premise of the study was that there is a relationship between cognition and, among other things, "synaptic plasticity."  Synaptic plasticity is the fundamental process of the brain by which neurons are constantly strengthening and weakening connections.  This is important to memory, and it promotes resilience, including resistance to neurodegenerative diseases.  Apparently, social activity influences synaptic plasticity in a positive way.

Another premise was that there is an association between brain volume and cognition.  So as the brain atrophies, cognition deteriorates.  The researchers looked for a relationship between changes in brain volume and cognitive test scores in the presence of different types of social support.  As we noted in Beating the Dementia Monster, all brains atrophy with age, but brains affected by Alzheimer's disease atrophy faster. 

So the question is -- Does cognition in people with different types of social support decline more slowly as their brains atrophy?  And is the rate of decline affected differently with different types of social support?

So what did the researchers do?  They took data from the very rich reserve of information generated by the Framingham Heart Study.  The study began in 1948 and continues to this day, amassing an extensive repository of data on the health of many thousands of individuals.  While the study was intended to investigate heart disease, it has yielded a treasure trove of data relevant to Alzheimer's research.  In the data, the researchers found information regarding the social activity of the subjects, specifically forms of social support.

But what kind of social support did the researchers look at?  They looked at five kinds: listening (“Can you count on anyone to listen to you when you need to talk?”), advice (“Is there someone available to give you good advice about a problem?”), love-affection (“Is there someone available to you who shows you love and affection?”), emotional support (“Can you count on anyone to provide you with emotional support?”), and sufficient contact (“Do you have as much contact as you would like with someone you feel close to, someone in whom you can trust and confide?”).

And what did they find?  Only listening (someone else listening to you) correlated with resistance to cognitive decline. 

So, if you want to keep Mom out of memory care, listen to her when she wants to talk!