Posted on 04/15/2005 12:49:52 PM PDT by MikeHu
WASHINGTON - Pessimistic, anxious and depressed people may have a higher risk of dementia, U.S. researchers reported Thursday.
A study of a group of 3,500 people showed that those who scored high for pessimism on a standardized personality test had a 30 percent increased risk of developing dementia 30 to 40 years later.
Those scoring very high on both anxiety and pessimism scales had a 40 percent higher risk, the study showed.
“There appears to be a dose-response pattern, i.e., the higher the scores, the higher the risk of dementia,” Dr. Yonas Geda, a neuropsychiatrist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., who led the study, said in a statement.
They all took the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, a standard personality and life experience test, Geda’s team told a meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in Miami.
In 2004 the team interviewed the participants or family members. Those who scored higher for anxiety and pessimism on the test were more likely, as a group, to have developed dementia by 2004, including Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia.
This did not mean a person who is pessimistic could assume he or she has a higher risk of developing dementia.
“One has to be cautious in interpreting a study like this,” Geda said.
“One cannot make a leap from group level data to the individual. Certainly the last thing you want to do is to say, 'Well, I am a pessimist; thus, I am doomed to develop dementia 20 or 30 years later,’ because this may end up becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy.”
And there is not any specific way to prevent dementia, although many studies have shown that a healthy diet, exercise, keeping active in other ways, doing puzzles and other activities lower the risk.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
The study seems to clearly indicate the obvious -- but the researchers then go into denial about the obvious conclusions -- that practically everybody recognizes the self-evident value of.
Pessimism raises dementia risk? That just about sums up the left...
Dang it, I just knew it.
I don't agreee with the study.
I'm pretty pessimistic, and I dont, and I just, uhhhh- dang, forgot what I was going to say.
LOL. Indeed. The left has ceased being able to argue logically. It now throws food at all conservatives who show up on campus, just like every demented person I have ever known.
Remind you of anyone?
For years, my doctor believed I was allergic to asprin. Why? Because I broke out in terrible hives after taking aspirin. He never asked why I was taking aspirin. As it turns out, I get a little headache before the hives, and poor old aspirin was entirely innocent.
There's a reason why medicine is an arts degree.
This is exactly why the DUmmies have to spend so much time checking their dosages...
I'm inclined to believe pessimism is a precursor, if not a form of dementia. In severe cases, what's the difference?
Uh-oh. I'm doomed.
No, crankiness and stubborness lead to a long life without dementia
My almost 96 year old father is living proof that a nasty attitude will keep you going for years. He still knows every baseball player on the Yankees and can add numbers in his head better than I ever could and reads the entire newspaper every morning. He also has never had a kand word to say about anyone!!!
I respect him, but living with him can be a challenge!!
It seems to be the personality profile required for somebody working in journalism these days -- or featured columnists at the newspapers. Why do they think we can't locate grouchy, always complaining, whiny old people on our own -- that we need to make international celebrities of them?
How long has Free Republic been here? Let's see ... 1996 ... it's 2005 ... that means some of the senior members ... nah ... can't be. ;)
Just being around pessimistic people can be a downer(think back to those glorious Carter years).
I think participation at FreeRepublic might be the only proven preventative against mental dysfunctioning.
Welcome home. You're a keeper! ;)
You left off the sarcasm tag and many here will think you are serious.
It can't be syntactically correct to use "glorious" and "Carter" in the same sentence.
I love the screen name. Former ACLU Member. What was detox like? =P
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