Congratulations to Dr. Jared Tanner and coauthors Angela Mickle, Udell Holmes III, Brittany Addison, Kenia Rangel, Cynthia Garvan, Roland Staud, Song Lai, David Redden, Burel R Goodin, Catherine Price, Roger Fillingim, Kimberly Sibille on their article “More than Chronic Pain: Behavioral and Psychosocial Protective Factors Predict Lower Brain Age in Adults with/at Risk for Knee Osteoarthritis over Two Years” recently published in Brain Communications.
Consistent with previously reports, they show that people with more severe chronic musculoskeletal pain tend to have “older” brains – meaning their brains look biologically older than their actual age. That is where most studies end and this study begins. Other life experiences like poverty, divorce, or unemployment also contribute to brain aging. In fact, they show an additive relationship between life challenges and brain age. The great news is that some experiences protect and buffer the brain, such as optimism, social support, a healthy waist size, quality sleep, and avoiding smoking. Their findings show individuals with the highest number of protective factors had brains eight years younger, on average, than those with the lowest protective factors! Importantly, these protective factors appear to slow brain aging over time. Building optimism, social support, healthy lifestyles, and quality sleep could help protect the brain and slow aging in individuals living with chronic pain.
Stay tuned for the full article!