Anxiety Can Increase the Risk of Dementia.
Being anxious persistently in midlife is a
risk factor for dementia in late life.
Dementia is a group of neurodegenerative diseases that cause problems with memory and thinking skills so severe that everyday activities become severely affected.
The
2018 study, which was published in the journal BMJ Open, analyzed a huge amount of data constituting sample size of 29,819.
Most notably, the researchers found a positive correlation between anxiety and future dementia in every case.
Anxiety Can Impair Almost Every Aspect of Your Cognition.
In simple words, cognition is your brain’s ability to process acquired information and use them to meet the demands of everyday life.
It includes memory, perception, decision-making skills, attention, and control. In a
2013 study, researchers noted that anxiety affected every aspect of cognition. While some aspects including attention were found to heighten, control seemed to be on the lower side.
Likewise, being anxious did not seem to affect long-term memory but severely impact short-term memory.