{
  "schemaVersion": 1,
  "capturedAt": "2026-09-14T11:41:53.499Z",
  "sha256": "04d4bf07085f45ddf6c91155403f61aea8efa0299b9c7a8970da0d01fb5a6829",
  "work": {
    "id": "TAP-CON-0005",
    "kind": "concept",
    "key": "reserve",
    "locale": "en",
    "path": "/topics/reserve/",
    "title": "Physiological Reserve",
    "description": "Physiological reserve generally refers to capacity a system can call on beyond ordinary demands. Different organs and functions have their own reserves; these should not be treated as one universal “body battery”.",
    "rights": "© The Allostasis Project. All rights reserved. Reproduction or adaptation requires separate permission, subject to applicable legal exceptions.",
    "version": "0.2",
    "updatedAt": "2026-09-14",
    "editorial": {
      "contentType": "scientific-concept",
      "reviewState": "draft",
      "reviewedAt": null,
      "reviewedVersion": null,
      "updatedAt": "2026-09-14",
      "version": "0.2",
      "author": null,
      "reviewer": null,
      "revisions": [
        {
          "date": "2026-09-14",
          "version": "0.2",
          "description": "Added the distinction between reserve assessment and observed recovery, and clarified domain-specific reserve terminology."
        }
      ]
    },
    "sections": [
      {
        "id": "introduction",
        "title": "At a glance",
        "paragraphs": [
          "How much capacity remains beyond everyday needs?",
          "Physiological reserve generally refers to capacity a system can call on beyond ordinary demands. Different organs and functions have their own reserves; these should not be treated as one universal “body battery”.",
          "Reserve and resilience are related. Reserve concerns available capacity; resilience also concerns performance after a disturbance."
        ]
      },
      {
        "id": "capacity",
        "title": "Capacity beyond everyday demand",
        "paragraphs": [
          "Physical-resilience research discusses physiological reserve as capacity that may contribute to a response to a stressor. Reserve is one part of this account, not a direct observation of recovery itself.[1]"
        ]
      },
      {
        "id": "distinction",
        "title": "Capacity and performance",
        "paragraphs": [
          "Available capacity and what happens after a disturbance are related questions. The distinction helps explain why reserve and resilience are not interchangeable terms.[1]",
          "In geriatric care, tests of reserve can help estimate recovery potential. Repeated observations around an actual health stressor address a different question: how a function changes over time. The stressor itself must also be described.[3]"
        ]
      },
      {
        "id": "reserve-domains",
        "title": "Name the capacity under discussion",
        "paragraphs": [
          "Cognitive aging research distinguishes cognitive reserve, brain reserve and brain maintenance. This vocabulary helps within its domain; it should not be substituted for a measure of exercise capacity or for whole-body physiological reserve.[4]"
        ]
      },
      {
        "id": "boundaries",
        "title": "Avoid the single-battery metaphor",
        "paragraphs": [
          "This project does not calculate a whole-body reserve score. A useful account needs to identify the system, the task and the measurement, rather than infer reserve from a general feeling of energy."
        ]
      }
    ],
    "references": [
      {
        "id": "whitson-2016",
        "title": "Physical Resilience in Older Adults: Systematic Review and Development of an Emerging Construct",
        "authors": "Heather E. Whitson · Wei Duan-Porter · Kenneth E. Schmader · Miriam C. Morey · Harvey J. Cohen · Cathleen S. Colón-Emeric",
        "journal": "The Journals of Gerontology: Series A",
        "year": "2016",
        "url": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26718984/",
        "doi": "10.1093/gerona/glv202",
        "pmid": "26718984"
      },
      {
        "id": "mcewen-1998",
        "title": "Protective and damaging effects of stress mediators",
        "authors": "Bruce S. McEwen",
        "journal": "New England Journal of Medicine",
        "year": "1998",
        "url": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9428819/",
        "doi": "10.1056/NEJM199801153380307",
        "pmid": "9428819"
      },
      {
        "id": "gijzel-2019",
        "title": "Resilience in Clinical Care: Getting a Grip on the Recovery Potential of Older Adults",
        "authors": "Sanne M. W. Gijzel · Heather E. Whitson · Ingrid A. van de Leemput · Marten Scheffer · Dieneke van Asselt · Jerrald L. Rector · Marcel G. M. Olde Rikkert · René J. F. Melis",
        "journal": "Journal of the American Geriatrics Society",
        "year": "2019",
        "url": "https://doi.org/10.1111/jgs.16149",
        "doi": "10.1111/jgs.16149",
        "pmid": "31498881"
      },
      {
        "id": "stern-2020",
        "title": "Whitepaper: Defining and investigating cognitive reserve, brain reserve, and brain maintenance",
        "authors": "Yaakov Stern · Eider M. Arenaza‐Urquijo · David Bartrés‐Faz · Sylvie Belleville · Marc Cantilon · Gael Chetelat · Michael Ewers · Nicolai Franzmeier · Gerd Kempermann · William S. Kremen · Ozioma Okonkwo · Nikolaos Scarmeas · Anja Soldan · Chinedu Udeh‐Momoh · Michael Valenzuela · Prashanthi Vemuri · Eero Vuoksimaa · and the Reserve, Resilience and Protective Factors PIA Empirical Definitions and Conceptual Frameworks Workgroup",
        "journal": "Alzheimer's & Dementia",
        "year": "2020",
        "url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jalz.2018.07.219",
        "doi": "10.1016/j.jalz.2018.07.219",
        "pmid": "30222945"
      }
    ],
    "type": "CON"
  }
}