London - Dreading getting old may raise your risk of Alzheimer’s, scientists have warned.
Middle-aged people who view ageing as a handicap are more likely to have adverse changes to their brain decades later, they found.
Researcher Becca Levy, of the Yale School of Public Health, analysed data of 74 men and women collected from when they were middle-aged until they died.
All were healthy at the start of the study and aged mainly in their late 50s and early 60s. First, they filled in a survey designed to assess their attitude to ageing.
Twenty years later, they started to have annual scans that measured the size of the hippocampus, brain’s memory hub. The brain normally shrinks with age, but the hippocampus shrivelled three times as quickly in those with negative views of ageing two decades before.
Further evidence came from examinations of the brain after death. These showed that those who held negative views of ageing had higher levels of two proteins that are hallmarks of Alzheimer’s.
The finding held when factors such as age, education and overall health were taken into account.
Writing in the journal Psychology and Aging, the researchers said positive thinking should be considered when treating Alzheimer’s.
Dr Laura Phipps of Alzheimer’s Research UK, cautioned the results could also be caused by the early stages of Alzheimer’s twisting people’s thoughts and making them more negative.
Daily Mail