Mistrust of other people may put you at higher risk for dementia, according to a new study published in the journal Neurology. The study looked at the impact cynicism may have on long-term cognitive health.
Cynicism is defined as the belief that people are generally motivated by their own self interest and promotion and cannot be trusted.
For the study on 1,449 people, researchers at the University of Eastern Finland in Kuopio administered tests to screen for dementia, as well as questionnaires to gauge each person’s level of cynicism. Out of that number, 622 people completed two tests for dementia, with the second one eight years after the start of the study. The average age of study participants was 71.
When taking the cynicism questionnaire people responded to statements such as “I think most people would lie to get ahead” and “It is safer to trust nobody.” After scoring the questionnaire participants were divided into groups of low, moderate and high levels of cynicism.
A total of 46 people were diagnosed with dementia in the eight years between taking the two questionnaires. After adjusting for factors such high blood pressure and cholesterol, the researchers found people with high levels of cynicism were three times more likely to develop dementia than those with low levels of cynicism. A total of 164 people were found to have high levels of cynicism and 14 of them developed dementia. However, only nine out of 212 people with low levels of cynicism developed dementia.
Higher levels of cynicism also appeared to be linked to early death. However, after adjusting for factors such as income, health problems and lifestyle habits such as smoking the researchers found the link to be tenuous. Even still, there are a number of studies that show cynicism does impact physical health. A study published in American Journal of Epidemiology found that cynicism increases one’s risk for acute myocardial infarction.
So the “watch your back ” and the “life sucks and then you die” crowd are at greater risk of getting dementia? What a load of crap. It’s the “don’t worry, be happy” crowd that requires one to “watch your back” in the “life sucks and then you die” world that the 1% has allowed us to live in. Which member of the oligarchy paid for this research project anyway? It’s good not to be drooling though.
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Sounds like more bullshit from the happy industry whose relentless insistence that everybody !act happy all the time! is itself, demented.
I don’t know. If one looks at the general population as evidenced in the news every day, dementia obviously does plague the segment of America who never spare a moment in reminding us that humanity is ruled by its dark side and to be afraid, be very afraid. Of course I’m speaking about the Reich-wing; Rethugs, Teabaggers, the NRA, Faux News, Glenn Wreck, and the plague of paranoid bloggers paid for by the 1%. So one could say that not only are the Oligarchs, enabled by the once-Supreme Court, destroying democracy in the US, they’re also destroying sanity. Q.E.D.
I’d go with tenuous.