Mind: "Thinking Young" Can Beat Dementia

We're amazingly suggestive ...

People who are encouraged to feel old are five times more likely to be diagnosed with dementia than those in the same age group with a positive outlook on their longevity, British scientists said Tuesday.

University of Exeter researchers came to the conclusion after studying two groups of participants aged between 60 and 70 who had been primed to feel either older or younger before their cognitive ability was tested.

One set of volunteers was told they were being placed in an age bracket for 40- to 70-year-olds, while those in the "younger" group were told they were among participants aged between 60 and 90 years.

The participants were then given reading materials that focused on the negative effects of aging on memory loss or cognitive ability, and were quizzed on what they had read.

Results showed that 70% of participants in the "older" age group met the criterion for dementia, while just 14% of those who had been encouraged to see themselves as "younger" were given the diagnosis.

For more, see "Thinking Young" Can Beat Dementia, Study Suggests, June 12, 2012 at Fox News.