People who tend to overthink things might be protecting themselves from Alzheimer's, according to research presented Wednesday at the International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease.
A slew of studies were presented at the meeting in Chicago that looked at how certain lifestyle factors, like rumination, and family history may affect a person's risk for dementia.
Among their findings:
*Overthinking family and work troubles may be a good thing when it comes to late-life brain health, according to Israeli researchers. More than 9,000 men in midlife were asked to rate their tendency for rumination on a scale from 1 (always forget) to 4 (usually ruminate) when it comes to family and work difficulties. The scientists followed up three decades later performing dementia assessments in 1,892 of the 2,606 men who had survived. Dementia prevalence was up to 40% less in men who said they ruminated about life's matters more often, compared with men who had the lowest ruminating scores.
*Being married or living with a partner was associated with a lower risk of dementia later in life. Remaining unmarried was linked to double the risk of developing cognitive impairment, a precursor to Alzheimer's, according to researchers from Finland and Sweden who examined 1,449 people participating in the Finnish Cardiovascular Risk Factors, Aging and Dementia study at midlife and then again 21 years later. Divorced singles who remained alone had a threefold increase in cognitive decline.
*Having a mother with Alzheimer's may raise the risk for the disease, says Lisa Mosconi, an assistant professor of psychiatry at NYU Langone Medical Center. Past research has shown that having a parent with Alzheimer's puts the children at very high risk for dementia -- four to 10 times higher than those with no ill parent, Mosconi says. For two years, researchers measured the brain activity in 78 people who had parents with Alzheimer's. Those whose mothers had Alzheimer's showed reduced brain function in brain regions chiefly affected by Alzheimer's. People with a father who had Alzheimer's did not show any brain damage.
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