Social Relationships Protect Our Brain
Human beings are social animals. All the advances that we have achieved have been thanks to social relations : culture, civilizations, generation of knowledge… But also, relationships are a basic need at a much lower level.
Our personality is forged within social relationships and they are a means to satisfy personal goals. They are a source from which to nourish our basic needs. We need physical contact, intimacy and belonging to the group. That gives us enormous security and reassures us.
The social support is one of the biggest protective factors that exist for all types of alterations. Instead, the lack of relationships or social isolation are closely related to disorders and psychological distress. Thus, social relationships are so essential to our development and beneficial to our brain. So beneficial that they can delay or minimize the onset of cognitive decline. How? Coming up next, we tell you.
Cognitive reserve
Our brain is plastic. It has the ability to modify itself to function better and to adapt to new circumstances. For example, brain damage. Closely related to neuroplasticity, we find the concept of cognitive reserve.
The cognitive reserve is the ability of the brain to tolerate or delay the appearance of pathological symptoms resulting from age or some pathology, such as Alzheimer’s. That is to say, with a greater cognitive reserve, later or in a more gradual way these symptoms will appear.
Customs, such as engaging in stimulating activities or occupations, mastering two or more languages, acquiring new knowledge, playing sports, and taking advantage of free time help keep our brains active. Thus, all these activities have been shown to improve our cognitive reserve capacity.
Social relations
Having social interactions and maintaining an active network of friends has been linked to numerous health factors. Among people with greater social activity, a lower rate of depression, frequency of illness, better immune function or lower risk of heart attack has been observed.
Apparently, how people interact socially can be a form of intellectual enrichment. In addition, having a rich social life also brings us cognitive challenges through conversation with others. For example, having to attend to what the interlocutor tells us and remember relevant information.
In addition, interacting also causes us to enter into conflict with other people, improving our ability to solve problems. Likewise, making plans, establishing common goals or anticipating reactions from others gives us the possibility of improving executive functions.
Protecting the brain
On the one hand, it has been argued that social relationships contribute to increasing the cognitive reserve. This mechanism has been proven by several studies. For example, Bennet and his colleagues found that the size of the social network modulated the association between Alzheimer’s disease and cognitive performance. That is, it was found that even with Alzheimer’s, people with more contacts showed less deterioration.
On the other hand, social relationships provide other benefits that can indirectly protect our brain. Stress is a lethal weapon for our body and our brain. Thus, relationships comfort us, provide us with new points of view, offer us emotional support and the possibility of making plans. In this way, they are a huge source of resources to cope with stress. Who hasn’t felt better after an afternoon with friends?
Likewise, the quantity and quality of social relationships is related to a lower level of depression. In turn, depression has also been associated with poorer cognitive performance and risk of dementia.
In addition to all of the above, relationships also help us maintain a more active and healthy lifestyle. According to one study, when we interact with others we tend to adapt to social norms and engage in healthier activities. Understandably, a healthy lifestyle is also beneficial for our brain and our cognitive abilities.
