“Don’t Worry, Be Happy” For Cognitive Health

The other day we gave one of our residents a MoCA test for cognitive health. Unfortunately his score dropped a little.

Very disappointing for us. His latest labs showed his biological markers were improving very well. His overall health seemed to be improving.

So I called our clinicians from A Mind for All Seasons. We discussed what we can do. We talked about a lot of games and activities that we could do to ‘work out’ the brain.

One idea that caught my attention was ‘try to keep him happy’.

Seems like we try to do that with all our residents as much as we can.

Turns out there is some scientific literature that supports happiness for cognitive health.

There’s even a “World Happiness Report” that is put out each year. Who would’ve thought?

Chapter 4 of the report deals with the “Aging Global Population: Associations between Well-Being and Dementia”

Instead of reading the findings of the report, you can watch a shorter video summary here:

In the report they talk about how happy people are more engaged socially. They also like to do activities with others that challenge their brain, such as:

• Games

• Music

• New experiences

Happiness also can lower stress levels, which improves your immune system. All of these factors contribute to lowering risks for dementia.

Too often we try to keep old people safe by locking them away in assisted living or memory care facilities.  We don’t want them to be surprised by anything that might upset them.

The opposite approach may help them more.

In her book Experiential Billionaire, Bridget Hilton outlines a host of benefits new experiences can provide:

1. Neuroplasticity - New experiences help the brain form new connections and rewire itself

2. Increased Dopamine - This can create a sense of enjoyment and motivation, which many dementia sufferers lack

3. Boosted confidence - Improving self-worth

4. Social interaction - many new experiences involve doing something with others, Those social interactions improve neural pathways

5. Mindfulness and Presence - The new experience may be a way for the person with dementia to focus on the task at hand and challenge their brain

6. Reduced negative thoughts - New experiences keep people from thinking about their condition. It provides an escape for them

7. Sense of purpose - Although some people with dementia may not remember the new experience, others in earlier stages may remember at least pieces of it and have something to look forward to.

Other studies have found a link between happiness and memory:

“In a large sample of middle-aged and older adults followed for up to 10+ years, we found that greater happiness at baseline was associated with higher levels of processing speed and visuospatial memory across four assessment occasions.”

However, the authors of the study did note:

“happier individuals did not have slower cognitive decline over time.”

Nevertheless, we see in our assisted living homes that the happier individuals seem to be healthier as well.

If you can stay happy in the face of adversity, it may just improve that adversity as well.