Staying positive can slow ageing process

MANAGING your emotions better could prevent ageing, according to a study.

Negative emotions, anxiety and depression are thought to promote the onset of neurodegenerative diseases and dementia. Scientists say that is because prolonged negative emotions can modify the brain.

Older adults are affected excessively by negative emotions and these effects continue over a long period of time. Two brain regions, the posterior cingulate cortex and the amygdala, are particularly impacted.

These regions are strongly involved in the management of emotions and autobiographical memory. They are also the parts of the brain most affected by dementia.

With these strong and prolonged negative emotions affecting this part, people can begin to suffer from pathological ageing.

Sebastian Baez Lugo, the author of the study, said: “More anxious people have no or less capacity for emotional distancing.

“The brain of these people remains ‘frozen’ in a negative state by relating the suffering of others to their own emotional memories.”

Being able to manage emotions and change them quickly was beneficial for mental health and vital to prevent this kind of ageing.

Those unable to regulate their emotions and remain in the same emotional state for a long time are at higher risk of depression and damaging parts of the brain associated with memory, said the study in Nature Ageing.