Worrying About This Common Concern Can Accelerate Cognitive Decline, According to New Study
Let's be real: Who doesn't want to keep their brains sharp? Whether that’s for keeping up with family members, remembering meaningful moments or just maintaining daily activities, brain health is crucial to everyday functioning, and it's at top of mind for most of us.
Adding more brain-healthy habits into our lives, such as eating blueberries, sleeping on our left side and even getting the shingles vaccine can help, as can avoiding factors that can accelerate cognitive decline, such as smoking and getting infections (as much as someone can avoid that latter inevitability).
After all, the thought of cognitive decline—or worse, dementia and related diseases—can bring racing thoughts and fears. People may (understandably) worry they’ll forget all their family members or some other worst-case scenario.
And yet, according to research, that fear—while totally fair—isn’t helpful.
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Worrying About Cognitive Decline Can Accelerate It, According to Study
The research in question comes from a 2024 study in Aging & Mental Health. Basically, the researchers gave an online survey to U.S. adults between 65 and 90 years old. The survey asked the participants about their expectations regarding aging and subjective cognition.
In short, the study found that positive expectations around physical and mental health, as well as cognitive function, were associated with less cognitive decline. The study’s authors said that aging expectations are malleable, too, which provides promise.
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To be clear, the inherent suggestion here is not to be groundlessly optimistic: It’s simply to be aware and have accurate understandings about what aging entails.
But can a mindset really affect someone’s cognitive abilities? And what’s the “right” mindset, according to a psychiatrist? Read on to find out.
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How Unrealistic Expectations and Worrying About Aging Accelerate Cognitive Decline
To some degree, cognitive decline is a given in life, and acknowledging that reality (as painful as it may be) is a key factor here.
But if we dive deeper, what does reality say? It says two things: that cognitive decline will happen—to everybody—and that for 80% to 90% of older folks, that doesn’t mean dementia.
“The normal aging type of forgetfulness is most often benign, does not interfere with daily functioning, and does not progress rapidly to dementia,” says Dr. Gary Small, MD, a geriatric psychiatrist and chair of the department of psychiatry at Hackensack University Medical Center.
With that said, he explains “normal” cognitive changes that come with age. “By age 45, the average person has significantly lower objective memory performance compared to when they were in their 20s,” he says. “When people worry about the normal, age-related, middle-aged pauses and ‘senior moments,’ their memory performance can worsen compared to someone who accepts these mild changes.”
There’s also the fact that worrying won’t add an hour to your life and keeps you from spending that brain energy on brain-healthy activities. More specifically, it takes away from paying attention, learning more information and retrieving memories, Dr. Small says—all of which help keep the brain sharp.
Here’s What Can Help
From an emotional standpoint, acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) says that accepting feelings, rather than fighting or suppressing them, helps people productively adapt to the inevitabilities of life.
Further, a 2023 study in Aging & Mental Health found that affective factors—such as mindfulness and self-compassion—are associated with “successful” aging.
Other actionable habits can mitigate or decelerate cognitive decline, too. Regular exercise, spending time with loved ones, getting enough restful sleep and engaging your brain are examples, according to Dr. Small. He says these “have all been shown to lower the risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.”
As far as exercise, that might look like resistance training (the best workout for dementia prevention, according to a neurophysiologist) or walking for just 15 minutes a day (researchers say that’s enough!). Engaging your brain might entail word games, and sleeping at least seven hours, which best for brain health. Let these relatively small steps be a calming reminder if and when anxiety hits: You're doing the best you can, and that's great.
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Sources
Dr. Gary Small, a geriatric psychiatrist
Just as expected? Older adults’ aging expectations are associated with subjective cognition, Aging & Mental Health
Despite Worry, Older Americans Don’t Ask Doctors About Dementia, University of Michigan Medicine
One in 10 Older Americans Has Dementia, Columbia University Irving Medical Center
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