Postdoctoral Researcher Lee & Dr. Brown to Publish in Translational Psychiatry

A new study led by Minwoo Lee and Casey K. Brown finds that giving support to others is associated with healthier brain aging. Using multimodal data from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) project, the team found that adults who spent more time providing instrumental and emotional support, both to close others and to strangers, showed younger-appearing brains (low BrainAGE) relative to their chronological age when assessed roughly four years later. Emotional support appeared to drive this association, suggesting that interpersonal affective processes may represent a possible route to neuroprotection. The findings suggest that everyday acts of helping may be a modifiable behavioral target for supporting healthy brain aging. The work has been accepted for publication in Translational Psychiatry.