Do not be afraid of aging and having positive thoughts on old age would be keys to reducing the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, according to the results of a study published in the medical journal Psychology and Aging.
Researchers at Yale University (United States) analyzed the brain MRIs of healthy volunteers (without signs of dementia) who participated in the longest scientific study on aging in the United States (Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging). .
Scientists observed that participants who had the most negative thoughts about aging displayed one of the brain changes associated with Alzheimer’s disease, a greater decrease in the volume of the hippocampus, a part of the brain important for memory. Indeed, individuals who had expressed the most negative thoughts about aging 28 years earlier had a significant increase in plaque and tangles at the end of the study.
“We believe that it is the negative thoughts about age that are often internalized to society and generated by stress that can lead to pathological brain changes.”
“Even if these results are worrying, it is encouraging to realize that these negative thoughts can be reduced and that positive thoughts about aging can be reinforced…”, concludes the researcher.
Alzheimer’s disease in numbers
In France, according to the latest figures from the National Institute for Health and Medical Research (Inserm), 860,000 people suffer from Alzheimer’s disease and the number of patients should reach two million in 2020. Alzheimer’s and related diseases represent the leading cause of age-related loss of intellectual functions.
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