A 16 -year -old study indicates that maintaining positivity can reduce the risk of middle -aged memory.
The researchers tracked more than 10,000 people over the age of 50 and found that those with higher levels of luxury were more likely to achieve better results in memory tests.
They also reported a greater feeling of control, independence and freedom to make options compared to others.
Although the relationship was small, the researchers indicated that it was important.
“This study represents an important step towards understanding the interaction between luxury and memory over time. It provides new visions on how self -reported luxury is related to memory and vice versa. While our results are primary, it highlights the importance of taking into account psychological and social effects on brain health such as memory,” said co -author Joshua Stout, Professor of Aging and Clinical Psychology at College University.
The study tracked 10 thousand and 760 men and women over the age of fifty who participated in the English long -term study of aging. They were evaluated in luxury and memory every two years, a total of 9 times during the 16 -year study period, starting in 2002.
The researchers examined the ability of people to learn and retrieve 10 words immediately and after delay. Luxury has also been evaluated using a life quality questionnaire, which searches in areas such as pleasure, control and independence. The questions that were asked of people included phrases such as: “I can do things that I want to do,” and “I feel that life is full of opportunities.”
The level of luxury
The study found a small but significant relationship between the high level of luxury and the improvement of memory, which continued even after taking any depression in mind.
Researchers have suggested reasons that may make luxury affect memory, such as people may be more likely to exercise, which improves health.
They added that age, sex, other lifestyle and social and economic states may also have a negative or positive impact on luxury and memory.
The authors did not find any evidence that it was the weak memory that causes a low level of luxury in some people, but they emphasized that this cannot be excluded.
Emma Taylor, director of information services at Alzheimer’s Research Foundation in the United Kingdom, warning that this research is a research based on observation and that there is still a need for further work to understand how positive luxury and memory are linked: “Caring for your heart, staying awake, and staying in contact are the keys to protecting our brain with our age.”
“Caring for our mental well -being play an important role in our public health. It has never been too late to start taking steps to maintain the health of our brains throughout our lives and reduce the devastating effect of dementia.”
“In the future, it will be great for this research to be able to build on the basis of continuous memory research to inform the strategies that support cognitive health in the elderly population – and this is the goal,” said Dr. Emily Willerut, a assistant professor of psychological and brain science at Washington University in Saint Louis, Missouri, and the author participating in the study.