University College London researchers have found that repetitive negative thinking (RNT) for a prolonged period of time results in cognitive impairment and the buildup of dangerous proteins in the brain that can trigger Alzheimer’s may have. One could counteract this with mindfulness and meditation. The results of their study, which was published on June 8th, 2020 in the journal “Alzheimer’s & Dementia”, come from long-standing observations of over 55-year-olds.
“It is already known that depression and anxiety in middle and old age can be risk factors for dementia. Now we have found that certain thought patterns that bring depression and anxiety can be underlying factors why people with such disorders are more likely to be one Develop dementia. ” Director of Studies Natalie Marchant, University College London, Faculty of Psychiatry
Brood and worry
To do this, Marchant and her colleagues examined 360 subjects who were 55 years or older. Over a period of two years they were repeatedly asked questions about how to cope with certain negative situations and how they think about them. The focus was on thinking patterns such as “brooding over the past” or “worrying about the future”, which in the They are related to negative thinking loops, and levels of depression and anxiety have also been analyzed.
Proteins in the brain
The cognitive performance of the test subjects played an important role: memory, attention, spatial cognition and language were measured. Almost half of the study participants performed brain scans using positron emission tomography (PET). Deposits of tau and amyloid were measured. These are proteins that are responsible for the most common dementia, Alzheimer’s. Over a period of four years, the researchers were able to identify the first signs of Alzheimer’s in the subjects, who were often prone to repeated negative thinking, cognitive disorders and memory loss. They found more and more deposits of the harmful proteins.
Depression and anxiety
According to previous knowledge, depression and anxiety could also lead to cognitive disorders, but there was no accumulation of the proteins. The researchers conclude that repeated negative thinking could be the main reason why depression and anxiety can lead to Alzheimer’s. Repeated negative thinking causes stress for the body as well as high blood pressure. And if you are already mentally stressed and physical stress is added, that’s not a good combination. Other studies have shown that physical exertion can lead to the deposition of the tau and amyloid proteins.
Body and mind in harmony
The researchers see a connection in the physical and mental state: Our thoughts affect our body – positive and negative. For this, mental training such as meditation can be helpful because it promotes positive thinking patterns and moves negative ones into the background. Marchant and her colleagues recommend meditation should be anchored in the health care system. Not only because it leads to mental improvement in the short term, but also because it could prevent dementia in the long term.
Mental training and therapy
Now the researchers want to find out in a large-scale project whether mental training such as mindfulness training or conversation therapies can help to reduce the risk of dementia, especially in old age. To do this, it helps to understand the factors that trigger diseases such as Alzheimer’s and to develop appropriate strategies for prevention. To do this, however, the studies would have to be extended to larger groups of subjects in order to represent a broader picture of the population: Most of the subjects in the current study already had a risk of Alzheimer’s.
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