Negative thought patterns could promote Alzheimer's
Lisa Vogel studied departmental journalism with a focus on medicine and biosciences at Ansbach University and deepened her journalistic knowledge in the master's degree in multimedia information and communication. This was followed by a traineeship in the editorial team. Since September 2020 she has been writing as a freelance journalist for
More posts by Lisa Vogel All content is checked by medical journalists.Not good enough! Too stupid! Totally incapable! For many people, such negative thoughts circle around like in a head carousel. Again and again self-doubts arise or the conviction that one is worthless overshadows the mind. This not only has a destructive effect on the psyche: Negative thought patterns could apparently even increase the risk of Alzheimer's.
Scientists around Dr. Natalie Marchant of University College London (UCL) found out in a study that repetitive negative thinking can promote the deposition of proteins typical of Alzheimer's disease in the brain and can limit cognitive abilities.
Make brain metabolism visible
For the study, they examined 360 adults over the age of 55. All participants underwent so-called PET scans. This diagnostic method makes metabolic processes visible in the body with the help of radioactively marked substances (tracers). During the PET scan, the tracers are injected into the bloodstream, and a connected computer then creates images based on the radiation that the body emits after the tracer has been administered.
During the scan, the researchers tested the subjects' memory, attention, spatial awareness and language skills. In some of the participants, they also looked for deposits in the brain that are typically found in Alzheimer's disease - the so-called amyloid and TAU proteins. In addition, all participants completed questionnaires that uncovered possible negative thought patterns.
Negative thought patterns decrease mental performance
Compared to the other participants, memory and cognitive abilities deteriorated more strongly over a period of four years in people with pronounced negative thought patterns.Such a loss can be an early sign of Alzheimer's. The researchers also found that they were more likely to have amyloid and tau deposits in their brains.
This connection can be explained by the physiological reactions that stress causes in the body. Under stress, blood pressure rises and inflammatory messenger substances such as cortisol are released. Such factors have long been suspected of promoting Alzheimer's disease.
Short crisis probably has no effects
According to the psychiatrist Marchant, a brief crisis of meaning or a brief depressive mood hardly has any negative effects: "We do not believe that short-term setbacks increase the risk of dementia." The negative thought patterns probably only increase the risk of dementia if they persist for a long period of time.
Prevention: Mindfulness comes into focus
Co-author Dr. Gael Chételat says: "Our thoughts can have a biological influence on our physical health, which can be positive or negative. Mental training practices such as meditation can help promote the positive and downregulate negative mental patterns."
In order to find out whether breaking negative thinking patterns, for example as part of therapy, reduces the risk of Alzheimer's disease, further research is necessary.
