Negative Thinking Linked to Dementia in Later Life, but You Can Learn to Be More Positive

A study in Alzheimer's & Dementia associated repetitive negative thinking in later life to cognitive decline and greater accumulation of harmful proteins responsible for Alzheimer's disease, reports CNN . Negative thinking behaviors such as rumination about the past and anxiety about the future were quantified in more 350 people older than 55 over two years, and about one third underwent a positron emission tomography brain scan to measure tau and beta amyloid deposits. Subjects who spent more time thinking negatively had more tau and beta amyloid accrual, worse memory, and more extensive cognitive decline over a four-year period than non-pessimists. Greater cognitive decline also was observed in depressed and anxious people, although tau and amyloid deposits did not increase in those subjects. "This is the first study showing a biological relationship between repetitive negative thinking and Alzheimer's pathology, and gives physicians a more precise way to assess risk and offer more personally-tailored interventions," said Richard Isaacson at New York-Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medical Center. The researchers suggest that meditation and other mental training exercises might help promote positive thinking while reducing negative thoughts, and they plan future studies to test this theory.