For Those Who Love to Overthink About a Situation: Overanalyzing Situations and Losing Sleep Over Things Increase the Risk of Developing Alzheimer's

Everybody copes with a situation differently. Some easily brush it off and move one, while there are other who think of it more than they probably should, it sometimes even affect their ability to fall asleep. Well, according to a new study published in the Alzheimer Disease and Associated Disorders, overanalyzing situations and losing sleep over something you can't control could greatly increase your risk of developing Alzheimer's disease later in life.

As we might have already known, Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia marked by memory, thinking and language problems. It can also affect a person's day to day routines- the same goes for stress. In addition to just being the known as the cause of health concerns like insomnia, depression and high blood pressure, stress has now been found to be related to Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) in older adults, which sadly is usually a milder form and an prelude to Alzheimer's.

In the new study, researchers discovered that people who always undergo a lot of stress are more than twice as likely to develop the neurodegenerative disease.

"Our study provides strong evidence that perceived stress increases the likelihood that an older person will develop a MCI," Dr. Richard Lipton, senior author of the study, said in a press release. "Fortunately, perceived stress is a modifiable risk factor for cognitive impairment, making it a potential target for treatment."

The team of researchers utilized the data from more than 500 adults who's 70 years and older to assess the relationship between chronic stress and amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), which is the most common type of mild cognitive impairment affecting the memory.

At the beginning of the study, all volunteers which have been followed for nearly four years did not have aMCI or dementia. Factors such as clinical evaluations, a neuropsychological battery of tests, psychosocial measures, medical history, assessments of daily-living activities, and reports of memory and other cognitive complaints were all taken into consideration for every participant. Stress levels were checked using the Perceived Stress Scale Scale (PSS), where on scale of zero to 56, higher scores indicated greater perceived stress.

The findings showed higher levels of stress were connected to a greater risk of having aMCI. The researchers also found that for every five point increase in the PSS score, the risk of developing aMCI soared by 30%.

Keith Fargo, director of scientific programs and outreach at the Alzheimer's Association, told CBS the study has not proven a causal link between stress levels and aMCI.

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