Worried and jealous women are more likely than others to suffer from Alzheimer’s disease. This is what emerges from a Swedish study carried out on more than 800 women.
In addition to worrying, do jealous women take risks for their health? In any case, this is what a Swedish study published on Thursday suggests, according to which worried and jealous women are more likely than others to suffer from Alzheimer’s disease. Unpublished results published in the scientific journal “Neurology”, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
A 38-year study of 800 women
To reach this conclusion, Dr Lena Johannsson of Gothenburg University recruited 800 women with an average age of 46 who were followed for 38 years. The Swedish team gave them personality tests to measure their level of neuroticism (negative emotions like jealousy), extraversion and introversion. The participants were also subjected to memory tests.
As a result, 19% of them suffered from dementia. But the researchers found that the women who scored the highest on neuroticism tests doubled their risk of developing dementia, compared to those who scored the lowest. The risk was, however, also associated with long-term stress.
Introverted women at greater risk for Alzheimer’s
Faced with these figures, the main author of the study recalls that an individual’s personality (through its impact on behavior, lifestyle and reaction to stress) can have an effect on the risk of dementia, as are factors such as education, cardiovascular disease risks, head trauma, family history and genetics.
Finally, women who felt most easily discouraged or who were withdrawn (introverts) had the highest risk of suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Twenty-five% of the participants who were easily discouraged suffered from this disease, compared to only 13% of those described as extroverted and resilient.
.
