Tag Archives: Alzheimer’s

Getting married and settling down with your partner could go a long way in delaying the onset of dementia as per findings of a recent study. Dementia, a debilitating disease which predominates in people aged 60 and above, can adversely affect the cognitive capabilities of an individual, seriously impeding memory and preventing the person from leading a normal, healthy life. The research focused on a total of 15 studies carried out in the past that attempted to analyze a correlation between the incapacitating disorder and one’s marital status, before arriving at the aforesaid inference.
The previous researches which were conducted had a combined sample size of over 8, 00,000 comprising participants from Asia, Europe, North and South Americas. Following the assertion of researchers who concluded that widows, widowers, and singles were more vulnerable to suffering from the damaging disorder, health specialists attributed the finding to one’s extent of social interfacings. The research made public in the ‘Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry’ highlighted that those persons who held onto their bachelor or bachelorette status all through their lives had a 42% higher risk of becoming demented in comparison to married individuals.
On the other hand, those who had lost a partner were 20% more likely to be incapacitated by dementia in sharp contrast to persons who were married. Surprisingly enough, the findings did not indicate that divorced couples were more susceptible to the age related condition than those who had yet not separated. Social scientists and experts from University College, London who took the initiative of carrying out the study, were of the opinion that married individuals were more sincere about leading healthier lives.
At the same time, married persons also had a greater probability of interacting with others compared to those were still single and staying alone in an apartment or flat. In the meantime, individuals whose spouse had died were subject to a high level of stress arising out of grief and loneliness that greatly contributed towards their developing dementia. However, an individual was also at heightened risks of getting bogged down with the disease if he or she had a personality or cognitive abnormality which considerably undermined his or her wellbeing.
Dr. Laura Phipps who was attached with Alzheimer’s Research, UK’s foremost dementia research charity strongly believed that married people not only lived healthier lives but they lived longer compared to those who were still single. There was persuasive research to corroborate the above generalization. Additionally, those leading conjugal lives also tended to be financially more stable. Being financially established had significant repercussions for one’s wellbeing.
Couples that stayed married inspired their spouses to cultivate healthy habits and stick to them persistently. Furthermore, they were likely to furnish moral as well as social support to each other. Dr Phipps further expressed that interacting socially may help promote cognitive reserve that served as a sort of mental bulwark against degenerating diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, enabling one to retain his or her cognitive capacity for a longer period.
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