Cognitive Aging and Cognitive Reserve: Points of Contact
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itive Aging and Cognitive Reserve: Points of Contact V. S. Myakotnykha, *, A. P. Sidenkovaa, E. S. Ostapchuka, I. A. Kulakovaa, N. A. Belikha, and T. A. Borovkovaa aUral
State Medical University, Ekaterinburg, 620028 Russia *e-mail: [email protected]
Received December 8, 2019; revised December 8, 2019; accepted January 6, 2020
Abstract—The high risk of cognitive disorders in elderly and senile people necessitates the search, on the one hand, for their causes, and on the other, for the possibility of their prevention. Thus, the concept of cognitive reserve, which implies a set of quantitative parameters of the brain and its ability to maintain high functional activity during aging and against the background of the age-related brain pathology, has become widespread in recent years. The material presented in the article is based on a review of the scientific literature and highlights two main points concerning the possibility of the preservation of the cognitive reserve: gender and educational factors. The article points to the different potential of women and men associated with the structural and functional features of the central nervous system in representatives of different sexes and the special role of the educational process supported throughout life. The authors’ position on the need to separate the concepts of education and erudition, i.e., the level of general culture, and to create a convenient tool for the determination of the latter is indicated. This, in turn, would assist in the development of a cognitive reserve model aimed at the prevention of the transformation of physiological cognitive aging into a pathological one. Keywords: aging, cognitive reserve, gender differences, protective factors, education DOI: 10.1134/S2079057020040165
It is well known that the population of our planet is steadily aging, that the proportion of elderly and senile people is growing more and more, and the aging process itself is one of the great social challenges of our time. However, this gives rise not only to social and economic but also medical and psychological problems, since the most vulnerable areas of the elderly and senile age are considered to be somatic health and cognitive capabilities. Moreover, elderly patients with dementia, who are dependent on outside help and require constant care, are, to some extent, a burden on their still young and able-bodied relatives. People caring for dementia patients experience excessive stress, depression, prolonged psychological distress, and overload; “emotional burnout” syndrome develops in them [2, 7]. The spectrum of their emotional experiences includes grief, shame, anger, guilt, embarrassment, loneliness, awareness of the patient’s catastrophically changing personality, and a transformation of family relations [7, 9]. These people themselves often become mentally unbalanced and somatically unhealthy, which also requires the provision of medical and psychological assistance in more than 70% of cases [7]. It is probable that it is precisely in connection with these
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