Internalised stress can accelerate cognitive decline — Experts

Experts say that internalised stress, often tied to cultural expectations and life experiences, may quietly influence memory decline over time in ageing populations.

In a new study from Rutgers Health, researchers said emotional patterns, not just physical health, can shape how the brain ages.

Published in the Journal of Prevention of Alzheimer’s Disease, the researchers stated that although internalised stress may be an overlooked driver of memory decline, it can quietly accelerate memory loss in older persons.

The study, which examined why some older adults experience faster cognitive decline than others, focused on Chinese Americans over age 60, a group that has received relatively little attention in ageing and dementia research despite its rapid growth in the United States.

Michelle Chen, a core member of the Centre for Healthy Ageing Research in the Rutgers Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Ageing Research and lead author of the study, explained that with the number of older persons growing significantly, it is vital to better understand the risk factors of memory decline in this understudied population.

Not all stress affects the brain in the same way. The researchers zeroed in on “stress internalisation,” a pattern in which individuals absorb emotional strain rather than expressing or resolving it.

Over time, this can contribute to persistent feelings such as hopelessness, which are increasingly linked to changes in brain function.

Cultural expectations may play a role. The “model minority” stereotype, which portrays Asian Americans as uniformly successful and resilient, can make it harder for individuals to acknowledge or seek help for emotional distress. For older immigrants, this pressure may be compounded by language barriers, social isolation, and the challenge of adapting to a different cultural environment.

The team analysed information from the Population Study of Chinese Elderly (PINE), the largest community-based study of older Chinese Americans. The dataset includes interviews conducted from 2011 to 2017 with more than 1,500 participants living in the Chicago area.

The researchers examined three social and behavioural factors: stress internalisation, neighbourhood or community cohesion, and external stress relief.

Their analysis showed that stress internalisation, defined as feelings of hopelessness or a tendency to absorb stress, was strongly linked to memory decline across three waves of the study. The other factors did not show a meaningful connection to changes in memory over time.

According to Chen, “Stress and hopelessness may go unnoticed in ageing populations, yet they play a critical role in how the brain ages. Because these feelings are modifiable, our goal is for this research to inform culturally sensitive stress-reduction interventions to mitigate these feelings in older adults.”