Social Interaction and Memory
According to the Mayo Clinic article, “Alzheimer’s Risk Factors,” studies have found a connection between a reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease and an individual’s lifelong involvement in mentally and socially stimulating activities and regular social interactions. While scientists cannot yet completely explain this link, a common theory is that using your brain develops more cell-to-cell connections, which protect your brain against the impact of Alzheimer’s-related changes.
Exercising your brain through healthy social interactions with other humans is very important. Similar to adequate sleep, a good diet, and regular exercise, social interaction has a wide scope of positive benefits that you may not have previously considered.
Research shows that people who regularly engage in meaningful social interaction maintain their brain health better at all ages. One study conducted by the National Institutes of Health determined that just 10 minutes of daily social interaction increases performance on cognitive evaluations and can give an important cognitive edge as we age.
Social situations and the development of relationships require our brains to engage multiple neural networks that support healthy day-to-day function and capability. Face-to-face social situations require us to think and respond quickly to ensure we detect, decode, and interpret the interaction so that we can give an appropriate response.
Engaging the Brain on Multiple Neural Networks
- Listening and taking in information
- Assigning a meaning to this information
- Analyzing the information in the context of the broader conversation
- Igniting our working memory to effectively navigate through conversations
- Monitoring impulse and inhibition controls to ensure appropriate interactions
- The mental stimulation involved in face-to-face interactions plays a crucial role in staving off cognitive decline and can actually be a useful way to improve current cognition over time by seeking out meaningful human interactions that help us form bonds that support brain health and overall health
- Interpreting conscious/subconscious cues that come with interaction (i.e. body language, voice inflection, eye contact)
Social Connections & Health
Aside from “mental exercise,” social interactions facilitate the development and maintenance of our support system and network. As the Harvard Women’s Health Watch reported, “Dozens of studies have shown that people who have satisfying relationships with family, friends, and their community are happier, have fewer health problems, and live longer.”
Those with large social networks are 26% less likely to develop cognitive decline than those with small networks. Resilience to stress is greater among those with well-established social support networks.
As we age, maintaining meaningful interactions become especially important for reducing the risk of cognitive decline. A study conducted by Dr. Lisa Berkman of Harvard University found that individuals who were socially active experienced less decline in memory. In fact, those with the highest sociability reported half as much memory loss compared to those least social. Despite factoring in other demographics like age, gender, race, and health, the statistics remained unchanged.
What Can I Do?
The Center for Disease Control advocates that sports, cultural activities, emotional support, and personal relationships, collectively appear to have a defensive effect against cognitive decline. Stimulating the mind and body to remain socially engaged include the following activities:
Staying active in
the workplace
Volunteering in community groups & causes
Joining community clubs
or other social groups
Traveling, meeting new people,
& experiencing other cultures
The Power of Social Skills
Social skills can be an important litmus test to gauge health. Significant differences in demeanor can be indicative of both physical and mental health challenges. While most of us associate cognitive decline with changes in memory – in fact, some of the first symptoms of cognitive decline are social – sufferers become less attentive, less empathetic, and worse at emotion recognition and emotion regulation. Being aware of these warning signs can help family members and friends identify changes which may indicate the need for a cognitive evaluation by their loved one’s physician.
References
Wang, S. S. (2013, May 21). When social skills are a warning–behavior changes serve as an early signal of mental-health issues; starting treatment sooner. Wall Street Journal.
Diamond, M. (2008, Nov 21). Friends Make You Smart. AARP.
Glei, D. A., Landau, D. A., Goldman, N., Chuang, Y. L., Rodríguez, G., & Weinstein, M. (2005). Participating in social activities helps preserve cognitive function: an analysis of a longitudinal, population-based study of the elderly. International journal of epidemiology, 34(4), 864-871.
Ybarra, O., Burnstein, E., Winkielman, P., Keller, M. C., Manis, M., Chan, E., & Rodriguez, J. (2008). Mental exercising through simple socializing: Social interaction promotes general cognitive functioning. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34(2), 248-259.
Ybarra, O., & Winkielman, P. (2012). On-line social interactions and executive functions. Frontiers in human neuroscience, 6.
Parker-Pope, T. (2008, June 4). Socializing Appears to Delay Memory Problems. The New York Times.
Ozbay, F., Johnson, D. C., Dimoulas, E., Morgan III, C. A., Charney, D., & Southwick, S. (2007). Social support and resilience to stress: from neurobiology to clinical practice. Psychiatry (Edgmont), 4(5), 35.