Your Early Writing Style Is a Strong Predictor of Alzheimer’s Disease Later in Life

Last Updated on Tuesday, 22 March 2011 20:19 Wednesday, 23 March 2011 05:03

Written by Robert Biller

The “Nun Study” –a long-term study of aging and Alzheimer’s disease using data collected from the School Sisters of Notre Dame (SSND) living in Minnesota – was expanded, in 1990, to include older (average age 83, with a minimum age of 75) nuns living throughout the United States. Six hundred and seventy-eight women participated.  Nuns were chosen because they didn’t use alcohol and tobacco and never bore children. This was groundbreaking research since previous studies had utilized mainly men. Several years later, it was serendipitously discovered that, in September of 1930, all the SSND were requested to write an essay detailing their upbringing, and how it led them to this religious organization. And these biographical essays were still in the order’s records. Results obtained by testing the cognitive functioning of the surviving nuns (93) and brain examinations of the deceased religious (14) showed low idea density (a simplified definition: how many ideas presented in a sentence divide by sentence’s words) and low grammatical complexity in the early-life essays were associated with dementia in later life! Every one of the deceased nuns, who had Alzheimer’s brain pathology, had low idea density in early life. Of the living test subjects, more than 80% of the survivors with poor cognitive functioning were the authors of low idea density and low grammatical complexity essays.

It had been known that loss of vocabulary preceded and foreshadowed a dementia diagnosis –Agatha Christy being a prime example. Her seventy-third book Elephants Can Remember signaled, on later scientific evaluation, a 20% decline in vocabulary, along with many grammatical and plot solecisms. But before the still-ongoing “Nun Study,” a connection between a person’s youthful writing style and being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease 50-years later was never postulated.

One last thought: Don’t waste a lot of time and cash on different programs designed to ward-off senility. Scientists say regular aerobic exercise increases blood flow to the brain, which, in turn, stimulates the formation of new vascular and neural connections. Exercise is the key to maintaining a healthy brain!

Coming soon: “ The Penis Monologues”