Summary: A person’s ability to self-reflect is associated with cognition and glucose metabolism later in life, a new study finds. Those who engaged more in self-reflection had improved cognition, improved overall brain health, and increased glucose metabolism later in life.
Font: UCL
Self-reflection is positively associated with cognition in later life, as well as glucose metabolism, a marker of brain health, according to a new study led by UCL researchers.
The authors of the new study, published in NeurologyThey say that older adults who engage in self-reflection may have a reduced risk of dementia.
Lead author, Ph.D. Harriet Demnitz-King (UCL Psychiatry) student says: “There is a growing body of evidence finding that positive psychological factors, such as purpose in life and conscientiousness, can reduce the risk of dementia.
Finding more ways to reduce the risk of dementia is an urgent priority, so we hope that, as self-reflection abilities improve, it could be a useful tool in helping people stay cognitively healthy as they age.”
“Anyone can engage in self-reflection and potentially increase the amount of self-reflection as it is not dependent on physical health or socioeconomic factors.”
The study used cross-sectional data (rather than reporting results of trial interventions) from two clinical trials, Age-Well and SCD-Well, which included a total of 259 participants with mean ages of 69 and 73 years. They answered questions about reflexivity reflecting, measuring how often they think and try to understand their thoughts and feelings.
The researchers found that people who engaged in more self-reflection had better cognition and glucose metabolism, as shown by brain imaging. The researchers found no association with amyloid deposition, the buildup of harmful brain proteins linked to Alzheimer’s disease.
Previous research has shown that self-reflection abilities can be improved with a recently tested psychological intervention, and the researchers say such a program could be helpful for people at risk of dementia.
Harriet Demnitz-King explained that “Other studies have found that a self-reflective thinking style leads to a more adaptive stress response, with evidence even showing improvements in inflammatory responses to stress and better cardiovascular health, so that could be the case.” how self-reflection could improve our resilience against cognitive decline.”
They caution that while their findings suggest that engaging in self-reflection helps preserve cognition, they cannot rule out that it could instead be that people with better cognition are also better able to self-reflect, and suggest more research is needed. longitudinal. determine the direction of causality.
Lead author Dr Natalie Marchant (UCL Psychiatry) says: “With no disease-modifying treatments yet available, it is important that we find ways to prevent dementia; By finding out which factors make dementia or cognitive decline more or less likely, we can develop ways to address these factors and reduce the risk of dementia.”
“Self-reflection has also been associated with other benefits, such as recovery from depression and better cardiovascular health, so even if we can’t confirm exactly how it might affect cognitive decline, there is other evidence showing its overall benefits.”
Previous studies by Dr. Marchant have found that repetitive negative thinking can increase the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, while mindfulness can help improve cognition in older adults.
Dr. Richard Oakley, Associate Director of Research at the Alzheimer’s Society, commented, “In this study, researchers showed for the first time that self-reflection (reflecting on one’s own thoughts, feelings, and behaviors) was linked to better brain function.” in areas of the brain known to be affected by dementia.
“While more research is needed to fully understand the implications of this finding, if self-reflection appears to have a positive effect on brain function, there is a chance that we may one day be able to reduce the risk of dementia with psychological treatments that help people build a healthy body. thought patterns.”
“The number of people living with dementia in the UK is projected to rise to 1.6 million by 2040 – the government’s commitment to double dementia research funding will ensure researchers can explore all ways to reduce the risk”.
About this research news on aging and self-reflection
Author: chris lane
Font: UCL
Contact: Chris Lane – UCL
Image: The image is in the public domain.
See also
original research: Closed access.
“Association Between Self-Reflection, Cognition, and Brain Health in Older Adults Without Cognitive Impairment” by Harriet Demnitz-King et al. Neurology
Summary
Association Between Self-Reflection, Cognition, and Brain Health in Older Adults Without Cognitive Impairment
Background and objectives: Self-reflection (the active evaluation of one’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors) may confer protection against adverse health outcomes. However, its impact on markers sensitive to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is unknown. The main objective of this cross-sectional study was to examine the association between self-reflection and AD-sensitive markers.
Methods: This study used baseline data from older adults without cognitive impairment enrolled in the Age-Well clinical trial and older adults with subjective cognitive impairment from the SCD-Well clinical trial. In both cohorts, self-reflection was measured through the reflective reflection subscale of the Rumination Response Scale, global cognition was assessed through the Preclinical Alzheimer’s Cognitive Composite 5 and a modified Lifestyle Index for Brain Health ( LIBRA) in old age calculated to assess health and lifestyle factors.
In Age-Well, glucose metabolism and amyloid deposition were quantified in AD-sensitive gray matter regions via FDG-PET and AV45 scans, respectively. Associations between self-reflection and AD-sensitive markers (global cognition, glucose metabolism, and amyloid deposition) were assessed using adjusted and unadjusted regressions. Additionally, we explored whether the associations were independent of health and lifestyle factors. To control multiple comparisons in Age-Well, fixed false discovery rate p-values (pfdr) are reported.
Results: A total of 134 (mean age 69.3 ± 3.8 years, 61.9% female) Age-Well participants and 125 (mean age 72.6 ± 6.9 years, 65.6% female) Age-Well participants were included. from SCD-Well. Across unadjusted and adjusted analyses, self-reflection was positively associated with global cognition in both cohorts (Age-Good: adjusted-β = 0.22, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.05-0.40, pfdr = 0.041; SCD-Good: Adjusted-β = 0.18, 95% CI 0.03-0.33, p = 0.023) and with Age-Well glucose metabolism after adjustment for all covariates (adjusted-β = 0.29, 95% CI 0.03-0.55, pfdr = 0.041). The associations remained after further adjustment for LIBRA but did not survive FDR correction. Self-reflection was not associated with amyloid deposition (adjusted-β = 0.13, 95% CI -0.07-0.34, pfdr = 0.189).
Discussion: Self-reflection was associated with better global cognition in two independent cohorts and with higher glucose metabolism after adjustment for covariates. There was weak evidence that the relationships were independent of health and lifestyle behaviors. Longitudinal and experimental studies are warranted to elucidate whether self-reflection helps preserve cognition and glucose metabolism, or whether reduced self-reflection capacity is a harbinger of cognitive decline and glucose hypometabolism.
Test record: Age-Well: NCT02977819; SCD-Good: NCT03005652