This item came through my inbox some time ago. It’s a news release from the University of Rochester Medical Center describing it’s mission “to study the relationship between emotional well-being and dementia-related diseases, such as Alzheimer’s.”
Main point: “Ample research has uncovered links between emotional well-being in older adults and Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. But little is known about the direction of the relationship.”
Other items:
- It is part of the “The Network for Emotional Well-Being (NEW) and Brain Aging…a collaboration between researchers from the UR School of Nursing, the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience, the Department of Psychiatry, the UR Aging Institute and their colleagues at other universities across the country.” An interdisciplinary approach.
- It is one of 5 research networks funded by the National Institutes of Health. The networks connect different disciplines studying emotional well-being.
- This network will “focus on clarifying two separate mechanistic relationships: the impact of an aging brain on emotional well-being in older adults, and the influence of emotional well-being on brain function and cognitive aging.” Emotional well-being might be a stronger component of aging.
- “People have been studying aspects of emotional well-being, such as how to be happy or finding a purpose in life, for hundreds of years. But in terms of understanding how emotional well-being is linked to aging and dementia pathologies, this is really new. Nobody has studied it in this way.” The research could break new ground.
- Older adults “are the fastest growing segment of the population and the most frequent consumers of health care.” Possible impact on the economics of emotional well-being.
- “Many people don’t realize that older adults on average are more satisfied with their lives than younger people, in spite of the inevitable stressors that aging brings…NEW Brain Aging will help us understand the neural mechanisms underlying that resilience and yield insights into how best to help those who are in distress.” Potential for lessons about resilience.
Parting thoughts:
- The research could lead to insights in resilience in aging adults that can benefit other generations.
- If exercise is studied as a component of emotional well-being, studies might include Nordic walking.