Benefits of Mindfulness in Elderly - Part 3:

Keeping Dementia at bay

Depression and anxiety is much more common these days in our fast paced highly competitive world. Even our school children have more stressors that can cause anxiety when compared to children of 30-40 years ago. Depression and anxiety appear to increase along with modernisation of societies. According to an article recently published in Newsweek, nearly one in five Americans suffers from mental illness each year! The article further elaborates that each year about 42.5 million American adults suffer from enduring conditions such as depression, bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. The data is compiled through a large scale survey conducted each year in the US by NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Health)

The increase in poor mental health is certainly not beneficial either at the level of individuals or as a nation. According to the NAMI survey, serious mental illness costs the USA as a country US$ 193.2 Billons in lost earnings per year! However, there is an additional alarming discovery made by the scientists recently regarding mental illness. That is the finding that anxiety and depression increases the risk of dementia later in life.

A large scale study was started in the UK in 1994, involving more than 70,000 men and women. It was conducted as a part of the annual Health Survey of England. All of the 70,000 were free of dementia and their average age was 55 years at the start of the study in 1994. By end of the study period, 10 years later more than 10,000 study participants had died from various causes. According to death reports, 455 had died with a diagnosis of Alzheimer's or other form of dementia. The investigators found that those men and women with the highest mental illness records were more likely to have died from dementia than those who were psychologically healthy.

Alzheimer's is the most common type of dementia. The dreaded Alzheimer's disease is projected to affect 80 million people globally in the next 20 years.

Some of the more recent research on Alzheimer's disease has brought to light that depression is a risk factor for dementia. A study published in the Journal Neurology report that people with higher episodes of depression tend to suffer a more rapid decline in thinking and memory skills due to dementia. The investigators further mentioned that treating depression and causes of stress can reduce the risk of dementia in elderly people.

Midlife psychological stress increases the risk of dementia

In another study published in the journal Brain, a group of 1,462 women were followed up over 35 years. The investigators found that the women who had been through significant stressors in mid-life had a significantly (65% higher) greater risk of developing dementia later in life.

We have now ample evidence through scientific research on the importance of preventing and or reducing the development of recurrent stress, anxiety and depression especially during our mid-life.

Our mid-life is the most active and challenging as we rise to the pinnacle of our careers and bring up the families. We certainly cannot run away from various stressors, but instead learn ways to strengthen our 'emotional muscles and heart' as we work out on the treadmill of our lives.

Our ability to handle stressors effectively during our youth and mid-life will give positive results both immediately and later as we become elderly.

Mindfulness helps mental wellbeing

One of the benefits of Mindfulness is the increased ability among practitioners to face and tolerate high level of stressors without becoming stressed due to those. Mindfulness has been compared to being in a gym to build up emotional muscles.

A recent article published in JAMA Internal Medicine, focus on a large study conducted by researchers of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. The researchers of the study had analyzed 19,000 published studies on meditation and selected 47 well designed trials that investigated Mindfulness meditation's effectiveness in promoting mental health. They combined the findings from those 47 trials and concluded that Mindfulness meditation can help ease psychological stresses such as anxiety and depression.

Depression is not only the most common mental illness but also one of the most tenacious. Up to 80 per cent of those who experience a major depressive episode may relapse. Drugs may lose their effectiveness over time. New research published in journal, Monitor on Psychology, suggests that practicing Mindfulness may also help prevent a relapse of depression.

Time spent on Mindfulness during youth and mid-life will also provide dividends in old life by preventing dementia.

(Aruna Manathunge who has prasticed Mindfulness for over 43 years, conducts Mindfulness training in schools, hospitals and companies. Aruna can be contacted at [email protected])