Repetitive Negative Thinking Linked to Dementia Risk

What is the harm of negative pessimism? New research finds that long-term negative thinking habits increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease. So do you want to continue to be negative?

消极悲观的害处有多大？新研究发现，长期的消极思维习惯会增加患老年痴呆症的风险。看你以后还敢“丧”吗？

Persistently engaging in negative thinking patterns may raise the risk of Alzheimer's disease, finds a new UCL-led study.

伦敦大学学院领头的一项新研究发现，总是采用消极的思维模式可能会提高患阿兹海默症的风险。

In the study of people aged over 55, published inAlzheimer's & Dementia, researchers found 'repetitive negative thinking' (RNT) is linked to subsequent cognitive decline as well as the deposition of harmful brain proteins linked to Alzheimer's.

这项研究发表在《阿兹海默症与痴呆症》，以55岁以上人群为调查目标。研究发现，“反复消极思维”可能会引发日后的认知能力下降以及和阿兹海默症有关的有害脑蛋白的沉积。

Lead author Dr Natalie Marchant (UCL Psychiatry) said: "Depression and anxiety in mid-life and old age are already known to be risk factors for dementia. Here, we found that certain thinking patterns implicated in depression and anxiety could be an underlying reason why people with those disorders are more likely to develop dementia.

该研究的首席作者、伦敦大学学院精神病学的娜塔莉·马钱特博士说：“我们已经知道，中老年的抑郁和焦虑是引发痴呆症的风险因素。在这项研究中，我们发现抑郁症和焦虑症患者常有的某些思维模式可能是这些人更容易患上痴呆症的背后原因。”

"We hope that our findings could be used to develop strategies to lower people's risk of dementia by helping them to reduce their negative thinking patterns."

“我们希望我们的研究结果可以被用来制定策略，通过帮助人们减少消极思维来降低患痴呆症的风险。”

For the Alzheimer's Society-supported study, the research team from UCL, INSERM and McGill University studied 292 people over the age of 55 who were part of the PREVENT-AD cohort study, and a further 68 people from the IMAP+ cohort.

在阿兹海默症学会赞助的这项研究中，来自伦敦大学学院、国家健康与医学研究院和麦吉尔大学的研究团队研究了来自预防阿兹海默症队列研究中的部分研究对象——年龄在55岁以上的292人，还有来自IMAP+队列研究项目的68人。

Over a period of two years, the study participants responded to questions about how they typically think about negative experiences, focusing on RNT patterns like rumination about the past and worry about the future. The participants also completed measures of depression and anxiety symptoms.

在两年时间内，研究参与者回答了一些问题，包括他们通常如何看待负面经历，是否会采用消极思维模式，比如反思过去或对将来感到担忧。参与者还完成了抑郁症和焦虑症的症状测试。

Their cognitive function was assessed, measuring memory, attention, spatial cognition, and language. Some (113) of the participants also underwent PET brain scans, measuring deposits of tau and amyloid, two proteins which cause the most common type of dementia, Alzheimer's disease, when they build up in the brain.

研究人员评估了他们的认知能力，测试了记忆力、注意力、空间认知力和语言能力。一些参与者（113人）还接受了PET脑部扫描，测量了陶蛋白和淀粉样蛋白的沉积物，当这两种蛋白质在大脑内堆积时，会引发最常见的痴呆症——阿兹海默症。

PET: 正电子放射断层造影术

The researchers found that people who exhibited higher RNT patterns experienced more cognitive decline over a four-year period, and declines in memory (which is among the earlier signs of Alzheimer's disease), and they were more likely to have amyloid and tau deposits in their brain.

研究人员发现，展示出更高水平反复性消极思维模式的人在四年内经历了更严重的认知衰退和记忆力下降（阿兹海默症的早期征兆之一），这些人的大脑中也更可能有陶蛋白和淀粉样蛋白的沉积物。

Depression and anxiety were associated with subsequent cognitive decline but not with either amyloid or tau deposition, suggesting that RNT could be the main reason why depression and anxiety contribute to Alzheimer's disease risk.

抑郁症和焦虑症与日后的认知能力下降有关，但与陶蛋白和淀粉样蛋白的沉积物无关，这表明反复性消极思维可能是抑郁症和焦虑症引起阿兹海默症风险升高的主要原因。

"We propose that repetitive negative thinking may be a new risk factor for dementia as it could contribute to dementia in a unique way," said Dr Marchant.

马钱特说：“我们认为，反复性消极思维可能是痴呆症的一个新的风险因素，因为它可能会以一种独特的方式引发痴呆症。”

The researchers suggest that RNT may contribute to Alzheimer's risk via its impact on indicators of stress such as high blood pressure, as other studies have found that physiological stress can contribute to amyloid and tau deposition.

研究人员指出，反复性消极思维可能会通过影响高血压等压力指标来提高患阿兹海默症的风险。其他研究已经发现，生理压力会导致陶蛋白和淀粉样蛋白的沉积。

Co-author Dr Gael Chételat commented: "Our thoughts can have a biological impact on our physical health, which might be positive or negative. Mental training practices such as meditation might help promoting positive- while down-regulating negative-associated mental schemes.

该研究的合著者盖尔·柴特拉博士评论道：“我们的思维会对我们的身体健康产生生物学影响，可能是正面的也可能是负面的。冥想等心理训练可能有助于促进积极思维，调节消极的心理机制。”

"Looking after your mental health is important, and it should be a major public health priority, as it's not only important for people's health and well-being in the short term, but it could also impact your eventual risk of dementia."

“关爱自己的心理健康很重要，而且应该被作为公共健康的关注重点，因为心理健康不仅在短期内对人的身体健康和幸福很重要，而且还能影响你最终患痴呆症的风险。”

English Resource 英文来源：科学日报 Science Daily

Translator&Editor：丹妮 Dany