Enthusiasm and openness linked to better brain health as you age
Being inclined to experience positive emotions like enthusiasm and joy, and being receptive to new ideas and experiences - openness - is linked to lower levels of cognitive decline as you mature, new research published in Psychology and Aging has found.
Researchers collected data from 157 English- or Spanish-speaking older adults over 60 from the University of California Alzheimer's research centre over two years. They asked participants to complete questionnaires assessing the 'Big 5' personality traits of openness, conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, extraversion.
The academics found that being more inclined towards positive emotions and being more open to fresh experiences linked to less cognitive decline over time, suggesting that these traits directly impacted how your brain ages. This was true even after taking into account the natural decline in brain volume and size which occurs as you get older.
Conversely, feeling sad was linked to higher levels of cognitive decline.
Cognitive outcomes were measured in several ways, including episodic memory, executive function and spatial ability, while MRI scans were conducted to assess brain health, taking into account grey and white matter and the hippocampus (the part of the brain involved in learning and memory).
'The study elucidates the importance of positive and negative affect on modifying the risk of longitudinal cognitive decline,' say the authors – although the study's small sample size limits the extent to which the conclusions can be taken to apply to the population, broadly.
The study adds to a growing body of research that has found a link between positivity and brain health. A study published in Psychological Science found feeling enthusiastic, proud and attentive was correlated with a lower rate of memory decline, measured by immediate and delayed recall. The nine-year study looked at a sample of around 990 middle-aged and older American adults, though it did not assess broader forms of recollection such as declarative memory.
More research carried out earlier this year on 39 older adults also found that generally being positive was associated as having protective benefits against Alzheimer's disease.
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