Academic education is merely a basic requirement, or you could say that it serves as a foundation for your future. It can be seen and learned in educational institutes because they follow a pattern/series of activities/classes that will aid in understanding the fundamentals of what you have immersed yourself in. They fill you with information. Knowledge can be obtained from anywhere, but in academic education, you will receive an academic certificate for learning it, which will serve as proof that you have completed/excelled and will be valid all over the world.
The advantages of a good education and lifelong learning continue into old age. The preliminary results of a long-term study show that certain degenerative processes are reduced in academics’ brains. Their brains can compensate for age-related cognitive and neural limitations better.
A good education is an excellent way to start a successful career and grow as a person. Can education, however, have a positive effect on our brains as we age? A team of researchers from the University of Zurich’s University Research Priority Program “Dynamics of Healthy Aging,” led by Lutz Jäncke, professor of neuropsychology, has now investigated this question in a long-term study.
We believe that a high level of education leads to an increase in neural and cognitive networks over the course of a person’s life, and that these reserves are built up. Their brains are then better able to compensate for any impairments that occur as they age
Lutz Jäncke
Over a seven-year period, the researchers followed over 200 senior citizens. Participants in the study are not affected by dementia, have average to above-average intelligence, and lead very active social lives. They were examined neuroanatomically and neuropsychologically at regular intervals using magnetic resonance imaging. The researchers were able to demonstrate that academic education had a positive effect on age-related brain degeneration using complex statistical analyses.
White spots and black holes
First author Isabel Hotz used novel automatic methods, among others, in her Ph.D. thesis to study so-called lacunes and white matter hyperintensities. On the digital images, these degenerative processes appeared as “black holes” and “white spots.” The reasons for this are unknown, but they could be due to small, unnoticed cerebral infarcts, decreased blood flow, or nerve pathway or neuron loss. This can impair a person’s cognitive performance, especially if degeneration affects key brain regions.
Over the course of seven years, senior citizens with an academic background showed a significantly lower increase in these typical signs of brain degeneration, according to the findings. “Furthermore, academics processed information faster and more accurately, such as when matching letters, numbers, or patterns. Their overall decline in mental processing performance was lower “Hotz summarizes.
Tapping into reserves
The findings add to the preliminary findings of other research groups that education has a positive effect on brain aging. Previous research has also suggested that the integrity of neural networks in the brain influences mental processing speed. When these networks are disrupted, mental processing speed suffers.
Despite the fact that no causal link between education and reduced natural brain degeneration has been discovered thus far, the following appears to be the most likely: “We believe that a high level of education leads to an increase in neural and cognitive networks over the course of a person’s life, and that these reserves are built up. Their brains are then better able to compensate for any impairments that occur as they age” Lutz Jäncke, a neuropsychologist, agrees. According to the neuropsychologist, it is also possible that brains that are active well into old age are less susceptible to degeneration processes, though this would have to be confirmed in the course of the ongoing long-term study.
Academic education is defined as education that, in addition to imparting knowledge, improves your academic credentials. Furthermore, an academic education is always based on reference-based theoretical knowledge that can or cannot be applied practically.
