Everyone has a favorite memory they want to keep forever. While many things will stick with us into our old age, physical and emotional conditions can eventually rob some of their ability to remember key events. Researchers at Northwestern University say there may be a way to stop this eventual decline: just be happy. Their study reveals people who are more cheerful suffer less memory loss as they age.
The study examined the cognitive ability of nearly 1,000 middle-aged and older adults in the United States during three separate time periods. The group was followed between 1995 and 1996, 2004 and 2006, and 2013 and 2014.
During these exams, study authors looked at the range of positive emotions each person had over the past 30 days. During the final two exams, researchers also had the group complete memory performance tests. The exams challenged participants to recall words immediately after seeing them and then again 15 minutes later.
The results show that those who are enthusiastic and cheerful — a state psychologists call “positive affect” — are less likely to have steep declines their memory as time passes.
Read more at StudyFinds.
{Matzav.com}
