I found out that an analysis of data from four studies that included nearly 40,000 people appears to indicate a possible connection between anxiety during middle age and a diagnosis of dementia in old age. What? Come again? Did I just read that right?
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My middle age, unfortunately, has been fraught with stress and anxiety. Am I the only one? I've dealt with errant kids, the dissolution of a marriage, a move that left me bereft of most all of my earthly possessions at the time, and a new marriage that was not an easy adjustment because of baggage from both our previous marriages and, as it turns out, our own childhoods as well. Then throw in some financial difficulties, the care of an elderly parent, stress at work, and the general stress of what most Americans go through on a daily basis---traffic, politics, in-laws, out-laws, car problems, house problems, it seems never-ending. So there doesn't seem to be much of a break from stress in mid-life for me. But it goes on......
The authors of the analysis suggest that an abnormal stress response may speed up brain cell aging and break downs in the nervous system, creating a vulnerability to......Dementia? Oh heck no, not the dirty D Word! I thought I was free and clear of that, since both my mother and grandmother had it in various forms when they passed the age of 60. It went straight through 2 generations! I feel like because I'm the 3rd generation, maybe it was in my lucky chromosomal stew to not be afflicted with dementia. (I know, that's flawed thinking for sure) Awesome.....so now, we have to throw in the old "stress" factor. I already knew that stress makes you fat---that extra cortisol is just swirling around in your body, waiting for you to eat for comfort because of stress, and then that pint of ice cream somehow exponentially blows up into 2 inches of pure fat on each thigh. But not stopping there, apparently. Then stress chemicals attack your brain cells and make them get sticky and they malfunction to the point you can't think anymore? That's an entirely different scary to me! I'll give up my body before I give up my brain any day!
The bearer of the bad news, Dr. Natalie Marchant, senior researcher, says, "Given the long-time interval between the assessment of anxiety and the diagnosis of dementia--on average greater than 10 years--the findings from our review indicate that moderate to severe anxiety may be a potentially modifiable risk factor for dementia."
Ohhh wait, she did say it's a modifiable risk! Meaning that if I don't have any stress from now until old age, I should significantly cut down my risk of being senile and forgetting who my husband, kids, and grandkids are. Oh what hope! So easy----have no stress! But if I do happen to have a bit of stress, make sure my response to stress is normal, not abnormal!!!
I really hope that a normal response to stress is a pint of Haagen-Dazs! That's definitely MY normal!
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Today is "My Post Monday!", a curation of the week's best original content. It's
all about posts from Crafts to Camping, Wellness to
Wealth, Fashion to Food, and whatever else is on the brain! I
open up with a post of my own and then follow it up with a linky of the
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believes, and
knows--in other words, they are active, writing blogs. If
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Source: BMJ Open, April 2018
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