‘Purpose’ could save our brains

Would having a purpose in your life, other than enriching or soliciting applause for yourself, prevent you from literally losing your brain cells to Alzheimer’s disease as you age? Studies in neuroscience are stacking up in favor of having a life of meaning so as not to spread your own welcome mat for Alzheimer’s invasion.

“Purpose” here refers to a direction in life other than towards your own benefit, a contribution to causes larger than yourself or to things that will go on beyond your own shelf life on the planet.

In an article last December 2013 by Jim Schnabel on the website of the neuroscience organization Dana Foundation, he cited a number of related studies showing evidence that a significant number of elderly people who have had purpose in their lives did not develop Alzheimer’s. In fact, even if they did have Alzheimer’s discovered only when their brains were autopsied, they only mildly manifested it in their behavior when they were still alive. This was striking because it means you could have a brain with Alzheimer’s but not necessarily live with a mind that behaves accordingly.

It is, however, false to say that those who have Alzheimer’s did not live a life of purpose. This is not a cause and effect since these were not results of experiments but studies of elderly people who were observed for about 7 years of their lives. It is a correlation. It means that for reasons yet unclear, “purposeful lives” and “prevented or delayed Alzheimer’s disease” occurred together in individuals in significant numbers.

Scientists still don’t know exactly what it is about having a direction in life that keeps those plaques from eclipsing the processing power of our brain cells. But they are getting clues from related studies. One of the studies point to severe stress episodes in midlife and how these stresses lead to dementia and Alzheimer’s later on in life.

Another study is something I have already written about here in a previous column – how people with a drive for meaning in their lives activate more genes that help boost the immune system against inflammation. What was so interesting in that study is that the people who derived meaning from “purpose” had more activated genes to protect them from inflammation than those who derived meaning from “pleasure.” It was remarkable how genes could differentiate between lives targeted for personal pleasure and those cultivated with purpose.

I don’t know if these findings would really convince people to consider where they get their life’s meaning – from purpose or pleasure. I also don’t think it was the intention of science to convince people to have some purpose if they themselves are not convinced it was the point to being alive.  What science wants to find out is what it is about having purpose in terms of what our brain cells do, when we aim for purpose and meaning, that it is able to foil the onslaught of Alzheimer’s disease.

And if we do ever find out what physiological processes are set off by a meaningful life, can we really persuade people to cultivate meaning if they previously did not seek it? Hmm, most of us can’t even convince our own family and friends to quit smoking even if incontrovertible scientific evidence says that cigarettes kill. Do we really think people who do not have a direction life would willingly sit and listen to a presentation on the neuro-physiological and neuro-psychological benefits of a life of purpose?

With or without the studies, I think it is, hands down, so much more worthwhile to seek joy from creative and personal company over party crowds or applause; from mentoring and passing on learning without worrying about remembrance or personal legacy; or from helping others breathe a little easier without the need for recognition.

If those things above could also help us in old age not to recede from our own selves and the shores of the lives of people we care about, then we can perhaps welcome our grayed selves in the way poet Derek Walcott’s Love after Love goes: “The time will come, when, with elation 
you will greet yourself arriving 
at your own door, in your own mirror 
and each will smile at the other’s welcome, and say, sit here. Eat…Sit. Feast on your life.” No welcome mat here for Alzheimer’s. – Rappler.com

Maria Isabel Garcia is a science writer. She has written two books, “Science Solitaire” and “Twenty One Grams of Spirit and Seven Ounces of Desire.”  Her column appears every Friday and you can reach her at sciencesolitaire@gmail.com.