Category: Dementia

How A Sense Of Purpose In Life Affects Your Health

A sense of purpose in life gives you this considerable advantage.

A sense of purpose in life gives you this considerable advantage.

People with a sense of purpose in life have a lower risk of death and cardiovascular disease.

The conclusions come from over 136,000 people who took part in 10 different studies.

Participants in the studies were mostly from the US and Japan.

The US studies asked people:

  • how useful they felt to others,
  • about their sense of purpose,
  • and the meaning they got out of life.

Ikigai

The Japanese studies asked people about ‘ikigai’ or whether their life was worth living.

The participants, whose average age was 67, were tracked for around 7 years.

During that time almost 20,000 died.

But, among those with a strong sense of purpose or high ‘ikigai’, the risk of death was one-fifth lower.

Despite the link between sense of purpose and health being so intuitive, scientists are not sure of the mechanism.

Sense of purpose is likely to improve health by strengthening the body against stress.

It is also likely to be linked to healthier behaviours.

Dr. Alan Rozanski, one of the study’s authors, said:

“Of note, having a strong sense of life purpose has long been postulated to be an important dimension of life, providing people with a sense of vitality motivation and resilience.

Nevertheless, the medical implications of living with a high or low sense of life purpose have only recently caught the attention of investigators.

The current findings are important because they may open up new potential interventions for helping people to promote their health and sense of well-being.”

This research on links between sense of purpose in life and longevity is getting stronger all the time:

  • A 2009 study of 1,238 elderly people found that those with a sense of purpose lived longer.
  • A 2010 study of 900 older adults found that those with a greater sense of purpose were much less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease.
  • Survey data often links a sense of purpose in life with increased happiness.

Related

The study was published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine (Cohen et al., 2015).

This Combination Therapy Slows Cognitive Decline Without Drugs (M)

Learn about the two-pronged approach that could give hope to millions.

Learn about the two-pronged approach that could give hope to millions.

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The Blood Type Linked To Memory Loss And Pre-Dementia In Later Life

Study of over 30,000 people finds link between a blood type and pre-dementia symptoms.

Study of over 30,000 people finds link between a blood type and pre-dementia symptoms.

People who have the blood type AB could be more likely to suffer memory loss with age.

The relatively uncommon blood type, found in around 4 percent of people, has now been linked to memory and thinking problems with age.

The study, published in the journal Neurology, found that people with AB blood types were 82 percent more likely to develop the cognitive problems that can lead to dementia (Alexander et al., 2014).

Dr Mary Cushman, a professor of haematology at the University of Vermont, who led the study, said:

“Our study looks at blood type and risk of cognitive impairment, but several studies have shown that factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes increase the risk of cognitive impairment and dementia.

Blood type is also related to other vascular conditions like stroke, so the findings highlight the connections between vascular issues and brain health.”

The study followed over 30,000 people for around three-and-a-half years.

Of these people, 495 developed memory and thinking problems during the course of the study.

They were compared with 587 people who did not evidence any cognitive problems.

Those with blood type AB should not worry unduly, however, in comparison to lifestyle and environmental effects, the influence of blood type is relatively small.

In other words: exercising regularly, eating well and avoiding smoking will likely have a much larger positive effect than the negative effect of blood type.

The researchers were also quick to caution that this is a preliminary finding that does not prove there is a causal link.

This Personality Trait Preserves Memory And Judgement

The best mindset to ward off cognitive decline can be cultivated using exercises such as visualising your best possible self.

The best mindset to ward off cognitive decline can be cultivated using exercises such as visualising your best possible self.

Older adults with a more optimistic outlook experience fewer memory and judgement problems, research finds.

Optimism has also been linked to desirable health behaviours like:

  • Eating more healthily.
  • Exercising regularly.
  • Lower risk of heart conditions and stroke.

For the study, researchers followed around 500 older adults over four years to see if they experienced any cognitive impairments.

The results showed that the best mindset was optimism, which was linked to a lower risk of developing cognitive impairment.

Ms Katerina Gawronski, the study’s first author, said:

“We felt like this was an important topic to investigate and to our knowledge, it’s the first study to examine the link between optimism and cognitive impairment in older adults.

We found that optimism was indeed associated with better cognitive health over time.”

Best mindset can be learned

The good news is that optimism is not fixed in stone.

Exercises such as visualising your ‘best possible self‘ have been shown to increase optimism.

Here is how I’ve previously explained the exercise:

Visualising your best possible self may sound like an exercise in fantasy but, crucially, it does have to be realistic.

Carrying out this exercise typically involves imagining your life in the future, but a future where everything that could go well, has gone well.

You have reached those realistic goals that you have set for yourself.

Then, to help cement your visualisation, you commit your best possible self to paper.

This exercise draws on the proven benefits of expressive writing.

Dr Eric Kim, a study co-author, said:

“Therefore, optimism may be a novel and promising target for prevention and intervention strategies aimed at improving cognitive health.”

The study was published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine (Gawronski et al., 2016).

This Change In Personality Indicates Dementia

Older people given personality tests were followed for many years to see who developed dementia.

Older people given personality tests were followed for many years to see who developed dementia.

Increases in the personality trait of neuroticism are a sign that someone will go on to develop dementia, research finds.

Neuroticism is a personality trait that is strongly linked to anxiety, sadness, irritability and self-consciousness.

People higher in neuroticism find it harder to deal with stress and tend to see threats everywhere.

The conclusions come from analysis of data from almost two thousand people in the US and the Netherlands.

Older people given personality tests were followed for many years to see who developed dementia.

The study’s authors explain:

“These findings provide reliable evidence of a consistent pattern of neuroticism increases preceding dementia diagnosis, and, further, suggest that change in neuroticism may occur early in the disease process.

Additionally, these results indicate that individuals who remain undiagnosed have markedly different trajectories of neuroticism compared to individuals not diagnosed with incident dementia or MCI [mild cognitive impairment].”

Along with increasing neuroticism, the researchers also found that people who went on to be diagnosed with dementia also saw decreases in extraversion.

They write:

“Assessments of extraversion, conscientiousness, openness and agreeableness were also available…

Our analyses revealed significant decreases in extraversion only, and solely for individuals with MCI [mild cognitive impairment].

These results may indicate that individuals with MCI might feel more cognitively challenged in the presence of others, possibly leading to avoidance of social activity.”

The study was published in the The Journals of Gerontology (Yoneda et al., 2018).

Mild Cognitive Impairment: One Thing Makes You 81% More Likely To Recover (M)

The factor that makes you 81 percent more likely to recover from mild cognitive impairment.

The factor that makes you 81 percent more likely to recover from mild cognitive impairment.

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This View Of Dementia Helps Sufferers Feel More Positive (M)

Research examines whether the diagnostic label of ‘dementia’ really helps people.

Research examines whether the diagnostic label of 'dementia' really helps people.

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Many Antidepressants Tied To Higher Dementia Risk, Large Study Finds

Safer alternatives should be considered by doctors, the researchers advise.

Safer alternatives should be considered by doctors, the researchers advise.

Antidepressants that have an anticholinergic effect are linked to an increased risk of dementia, research finds.

Anticholinergic antidepressants include drugs such as Amitriptyline (known as Elavil), Dosulepin and Paroxetine (known as Paxil and Seroxat).

(A longer list of drugs is at the bottom of this article.)

Although often older, many millions of people still take these type of antidepressants.

The longer people take these drugs, the researchers found, the higher their risk of dementia.

More modern antidepressants, like Prozac and Xanax, generally have a lower anticholinergic effect, and were not linked to a higher dementia risk.

Dr George Savva, who led the study, said:

“We studied patients with a new dementia diagnosis and looked at what anticholinergic medication they were prescribed between four and 20 years prior to being diagnosed.

We found that people who had been diagnosed with dementia were up to 30 per cent more likely to have been prescribed specific classes of anticholinergic medications.

And the association with dementia increases with greater exposure to these types of medication.

What we don’t know for sure is whether the medication is the cause.

It could be that these medications are being prescribed for very early symptoms indicating the onset of dementia.

But because our research shows that the link goes back up to 15 or 20 years before someone is eventually diagnosed with dementia, it suggests that reverse causation, or confounding with early dementia symptoms, probably isn’t the case.

The conclusions come from the medical records of 40,770 patients aged over 65 who were diagnosed with dementia.

These were compared to 283,933 without dementia.

The results showed the link between dementia and anticholinergic drugs.

Other common anticholinergic drugs also linked to dementia include those prescribed for bladder conditions and Parkinson’s (e.g. Tolterodine, Oxybutynin, Solifenacin and Procyclidine).

No link, though, was found between antihistamines (used to treat allergies) and dementia, as previous research had.

Dr Noll Campbell, study co-author, said:

“These results suggest we should prioritise safer alternatives to anticholinergic medications long before symptoms of dementia are recognised.”

Professor Chris Fox, study co-author, said:

“Doctors and patients should therefore be vigilant about using anticholinergic medications.

They need to consider the risk of long-term cognitive effects, as well as short-term effects, associated with specific drugs when weighing up risks and benefits.

We don’t know exactly how anticholinergics might cause dementia.

Further research is needed to understand possible reasons for this link.

In the meantime, I strongly advise patients with any concerns to continue taking their medicines until they have consulted their doctor or pharmacist.”

Here are some common drugs that have a definite anticholinergic effect:

  • Amitriptylline
  • Brompheniramine
  • Chlorpheniramine
  • Clomipramine
  • Clozapine
  • Dimenhydrinate
  • Diphenhydramine
  • Hydroxyzine
  • Paroxetine
  • Promethazine

These drugs also have an anticholinergic effect, although it is lower than the list above:

  • Amantadine
  • Belladona
  • Cyclobenzaprine
  • Cyproheptadine
  • Carbamazepine
  • Loxapine
  • Meperidine
  • Molindone
  • Oxcarbazine
  • Pimozide

These drugs may have an anticholinergic effect:

  • Alprazolam
  • Atenolol
  • Captopril
  • Codeine
  • Diazepam
  • Digoxin
  • Furosemide
  • Prednisone
  • Nifedipine
  • Warfarin

Note that this is not a complete list of drugs and it only contains the drug names not the brand names under which each is sold.

The study was published in the journal BMJ (Richardson et al., 2018).

The ‘Flavodiet’ Could Slash Your Dementia Risk By 30% (M)

A study reveals how six simple food additions could dramatically lower your dementia risk.

A study reveals how six simple food additions could dramatically lower your dementia risk.

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