A research has found a surprising link between Alzheimer disease and repeated negative thinking habits. The study, which was published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia, noted that there is a link between this pattern of negative thinking and other biological changes that are associated with Alzheimer’s disease.

Though scientists admits that it does not clearly prove that overthinking causes Alzheimer’s, the patter of overthinking over the negatives of life could be doing more harm to the brain and memories. 

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The researchers examined around  292 older adults, including participants who underwent brain scans to measure amyloid and tau, two essential proteins that are strongly associated with Alzheimer’s pathology.

After assessing what they referred as repetitive negative thinking (RNT), they found that people with higher levels of repetitive negative thinking showed greater decline in global cognition as well as immediate and delayed memory. The experts analysed the worry  about the future and ruminating over negative experiences from the past and found that Higher RNT was associated with greater amyloid deposition and entorhinal tau deposition.

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The scientists also found that  repetitive negative thinking could potentially be one pathway through which psychological stress factors are associated with the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, noting that it remains a hypothesis for now.