Looking Out for your Outlook

(American Senior Communities image)

An optimistic outlook seems to reduce the likelihood of acquiring Alzheimer's Disease. In a group of adults who "were healthy and free of dementia" [bold added]

those who held negative stereotypes of seniors at the start of the study were more likely to develop the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s later: a decrease in the volume of the brain’s hippocampus—a key memory center—and an increase in amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles.

All subjects gave their optimistic/pessimistic views 20 years before the diagnosis was confirmed in some of them.

Among the 158 subjects who had MRIs, those holding more-negative views showed three times more hippocampal decline than those with less-negative views. Among the 74 subjects who had autopsies, the negatives had a “significantly greater accumulation” of plaques and tangles.

"A cheerful heart is good medicine." -- Proverbs 17:22

Related: "older people have less anxiety and sadness and more overall satisfaction."