Stay calm to prevent dementia

Being more relaxed and calm lower your chances of developing dementia. Neuroticism is a personality trait that means an enduring tendency to experience negative emotional states like anxiety, anger, guilt and depression. High neuroticism has been associated with a greater risk of dementia, and an active and socially integrated lifestyle with a lower risk of dementia. Researchers from Sweden identified 506 healthy elderly people and asked them questionnaires regarding their personalities to explore the effects of neuroticism and an outgoing personality on the risk of dementia and to examine whether lifestyle factors may modify this association. The questionnaires determined how often each person regularly participated in leisure activities and the richness of their social network. During that period they were studied, 144 people developed dementia that was diagnosed by experts according to standard criteria. During the six years of follow-up, it was found that those who were calm and relaxed had a 50% lower risk of developing dementia. Neither high neuroticism nor low extraversion alone was related to significantly higher incidence of dementia. However, among people with an inactive or socially isolated lifestyle, low neuroticism was associated with a decreased dementia risk. The above findings suggest that low neuroticism in combination with high extraversion is the personality trait associated with the lowest dementia risk. However, among socially isolated individuals even low neuroticism alone seems to decrease dementia risk. The researchers recommended that people who are easily stressed or are not very outgoing should make every effort to be socially active.

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