A new study has shown that a mentally active lifestyle may protect against the memory and learning problems that often occur in multiple sclerosis. The study is published in the Neurology.

The study involved 44 people around the age of 45 who had multiple sclerosis for an average of 11 years. The study authors measured lifetime enrichment with word knowledge, typically acquired through activities that involve reading and education.

The study found that those with a mentally active lifestyle had good scores on the tests of learning and memory even if they had higher amounts of brain damage. For example, on a test of verbal learning and memory, participants were given up to 15 tries to learn a list of 10 words, and were then asked to recall the list after 30 minutes. Among people with mentally active lifestyles, learning and recall was similar in those with lower and higher amounts of brain damage ( recall decline of about one percent: 9.6 words to 9.5 words ).

In contrast, among persons with less intellectually enriching lifestyles, learning was slower and recall was lower after 30 minutes among those with higher amounts of brain damage compared to those with lower amounts of damage ( recall decline of about 16 percent: 9.6 words to 8.0 words ).

The findings suggest that enriching activities may build a person’s cognitive reserve, which can be thought of as a buffer against disease-related memory impairment. Differences in cognitive reserve among persons with multiple sclerosis may explain why some persons suffer memory problems early in the disease, while others do not develop memory problems until much later, if at all.

These data are similar to research on cognitive reserve in aging and Alzheimer’s disease. Studies on aging have also shown that engagement in specific cognitive leisure activities, such as reading books or playing games, also protects against the effects of Alzheimer’s disease.

Source: American Academy of Neurology, 2010

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