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Study Who thinks badly about old people, becomes more ill with Alzheimer's
Negative views of aging have a significant impact on Alzheimer's risk, according to a recent study. US scientists at the Yale School of Public Health found that attitudes towards the elderly had an impact on the development of Alzheimer's disease. Anyone who considers seniors to be "decrepit", as Professor Becca Levy and colleagues themselves often show typical changes in the brain. The scientists attribute this to the stress associated with a negative attitude towards aging.
The result of the US scientists seems quite questionable at first glance, because the established context a little like "justice" of fate works. People who think particularly badly about the elderly are practically punished with a higher risk of Alzheimer's. However, according to the researchers, the biological relationship is presumably produced by the stress, which is considerably greater in the case of negative conceptions of age. The current study suggests that tackling negative perceptions about age could potentially help reduce the rapidly increasing rates of Alzheimer's disease, reports the Yale School of Public Health.
A positive idea of age could significantly reduce Alzheimer's risk. (Image: Monkey Business / fotolia.com) Decrease in brain volume
The researchers analyzed the data from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging as part of the study, focusing on subjects who did not have Alzheimer's or dementia at baseline. Using images from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the scientists were able to evaluate the development of the brain structures in the study participants and compare them with the information on the attitude towards aging. In doing so, Prof. Levy and colleagues found that stereotypical conceptions of aging, such as a fading memory, absent-mindedness, and the inability to learn new things, were increasingly associated with changes in the brain. "Participants who had more negative ideas about aging showed a greater decrease in hippocampal volume," reports the Yale School of Piblic Health. Reduced hippocampal volume is known as an indicator of Alzheimer's disease.
More Alzheimer's plaques with bad idea of age
In a second step, the researchers used existing data from brain autopsies to analyze to what extent two other Alzheimer's indicators - the so-called amyloid plaques and the neurofibrillary tangles - were altered in a negative notion of age. The protein deposits of the amyloid plaques are attributed to a damaging effect on the nerve cells and they are considered as possible cause of memory loss. Neurofibrils are special protein structures that develop an altered structure in the course of Alzheimer's disease. "The participants who had more negative ideas about aging showed a significantly larger number of plaques and tangles" (altered neurofibrillary tangles), the researchers write.
Stress cause of the established connection?
Although the causal relationship between the idea of age and brain changes has not been further explored in the current study, researchers believe that stress plays a key role here. "We believe that the internalized negative beliefs about aging create stress that can lead to pathological changes in the brain," explains Prof. Levy. Here it is "encouraging to know that these negative beliefs about aging can be mitigated and positive beliefs strengthened," Levy continued. (Fp)