In recent years, the concepts of cognitive reserve (CR) and brain reserve (BR) have been used to take account of the interindividual variability between cognitive impairment and degree of brain damage occurring in a variety of neurological disorders. These studies, however, have typically not addressed the critical issue of the clinical implications of this research for the clinical care of the patients. After an introduction to CR and BR theory, the present chapter will review studies exploring CR and BR in healthy ageing and in a series of progressive and relatively common neurological conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD), multiple sclerosis (MS), and Parkinson’s disease (PD). In the second part of the chapter, we will discuss the implications of CR and BR for clinical interventions based on mind-body medicine (in particular meditation), as possible approaches aimed at potentiating individuals’ reserve in the conditions of healthy ageing, AD, MS, and PD.
