Preventing age-related cognitive decline
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Age — if we’re lucky — comes to us all
Given the options, most are happy with that arrangement. Yet, ageing comes with a freight of worries. Fragilities may emerge and (unlike childhood) we are often all too aware of the changes, having had so long in which to observe ourselves.
Everyone wants to live well in old age; we want sound bodies, sound finances and, above all. sound minds. Time and chance happeneth to all, but research shows that there are ways to age gracefully.
Finance and fitness are not my purviews. Writing is. And writing is one of the ways we can resist that most limiting and worrisome of possibilities: cognitive decline.
Beneficial writing practices
Solitary writing
Decades of scientific study have found consistent positive links between writing and various age-affected mental processes.
In 2005, Elford et al. conducted a study in which elderly participants were given prompts and worked alone, over a period of weeks, to write their reminiscences.
“The writing was seen as cathartic and provided a meaningful purpose, an opportunity to exercise writing skills and memory, and a focus for participants to share key stories with others. This exploratory study suggests that there is potential in using solitary writing within a reminiscence framework to improve psychological well-being in older people.”
The study, by requiring solo work, suggests that the act of writing itself — rather than any social-emotional factors such as participation in a workshop — was responsible for the beneficial outcomes.
Writing workshops
If writing alone is good, writing in a group might be even better. In a 2007 study, Medeiros et al. enrolled subjects aged 62-to-84 years old in an eight-week writing workshop.
At the end, participants had a “significant increase in follow-up scores on tests of verbal memory and attention.”
Here, it is possible the writing effects were mediated by, or layered with, the benefits of a stimulating communal activity. Given the real risks of isolation and loneliness that ageing can bring, this seems like a terrific argument for creating more opportunities for older people to learn and collaborate creatively.
Studying creative writing
This is precisely the claim advanced by Peter Paul Saunders (2005) in his doctoral dissertation Silent no more: Older adults as poets. Creative writing as a preventative approach to cognitive decline of the elderly.
A poet and educator, Saunders conducted his Ph.D. investigation on the effects of teaching poetry to the elderly. He found, “providing older citizens with a venue for creative expression will do much to improve their quality of life and maintain their intellectual functioning, factors fundamental to successful aging”
Meta-studies
All sorts of activities from listening to music to playing online Mahjong are touted as brain-trainers, and writing is one of many options for keeping the mind sharp.
A meta study conducted by Iizuka et al. (2019) compared outcomes from interventions “related to arts, writing, board games, reading, handicrafts, a crossword puzzle and learning computer skills.” Benefits were found for a majority of activities, but the researchers noted:
Activities related to learning new skills, that cause strong intellectual stimulation and that include communication elements were considered particularly effective tools.
Why does writing work?
Neuroplasticity — the ability of the brain to form new connections — is thought to be key to how writing can hone the human mind well into old age.
The mental workout of writing can grow the brain: this is not a metaphorical claim. Marzola et al. (2023) report:
“Cognitive stimulation can effectively promote neuroplasticity and brain health during aging. Cognitive stimulation encompasses activities that challenge the brain, such as reading, writing… or learning new skills. These activities promote the formation of new neuronal connections and can help maintain cognitive function… Older adults engaged in mentally stimulating activities had greater gray matter volume in brain regions important for memory and cognitive function.”
Anecdotal evidence
My writing friends, it is a privilege to report, range in age from 18 to 80. Just today, my old Prof, Paul Hendrickson, who recently donated the copious research materials from his many award-winning books to William & Mary College, emailed to say he’s off to Indiana following the footsteps of Kurt Vonnegut.
Another dear friend, Melissa Madenski, publishes essays and poetry, is at work on a YA novel, and mentors several generations of writers.
Another role model, Sue Kindon, immersed herself in poetry after retirement. She’s published books, won prizes for poems in her native English and second language, French, and co-owns and runs an art center.
Writing — as noted in a previous newsletter — is financially and physically accessible to almost everyone. This distinguishes it from other beneficial activities, such as painting, travel or exercise.
The cornerstone of successful ageing?
Intriguingly, the cognitive benefits of writing may begin well before age creeps up.
Snowden et al. (1996) studied a cohort of nuns across the span of their (often quite long) lives. In a writing-focused investigation, the cognitive function of 93 participants aged 75-to-95 years old was assessed against autobiographical writing the women had done in their early 20s.
“Results. —Low idea density and low grammatical complexity in autobiographies written in early life were associated with low cognitive test scores in late life…. Among the 14 sisters who died, neuropathologically confirmed Alzheimer’s disease was present in all of those with low idea density in early life and in none of those with high idea density.
Conclusions. —Low linguistic ability in early life was a strong predictor of poor cognitive function and Alzheimer’s disease in late life.”
The high-denomination bill question here is, was the early-life “low idea density” due to something physical that led (or at least predisposed participants) to neurodegeneration?
Or was the poorer written performance related to educational opportunity/attainment that, if addressed, could have protected the women from Alzheimer’s?
It is impossible to know, but if there is even a correlation between writing skills and mental acuity in old age, isn’t it worth cultivating those skills?
The chance there is a causative relationship between linguistic dexterity and cognition over a lifetime merits attention because one of those two things is in our power to change. And it’s not ageing.