Negative views on ageing ‘linked with greater Alzheimer’s risk’

A new study has indicated that negative beliefs about ageing are potentially linked to brain changes associated with Alzheimer's disease.

The Yale University research examined healthy, dementia-free subjects from a scientific study of ageing. It was found that participants who held more negative beliefs about ageing showed a greater decline in the volume of the hippocampus, which is crucial to memory.

Reduced hippocampus volume is an indicator of Alzheimer's, while it was also shown that people with negative views of ageing also tended to have a greater number of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in their brains.

It was theorised that stress generated by these negative beliefs, which individuals sometimes internalise from society, can result in pathological brain changes.

Study leader Becca Levy, associate professor of public health and of psychology at Yale University, said: "It is encouraging to realise that these negative beliefs about ageing can be mitigated and positive beliefs about ageing can be reinforced, so that the adverse impact is not inevitable."