Tag Archive for nuns

Update on Yesterday’s Dementia Study

Not everyone reads comments I receive.  I think this one from Theresa Rieve is important, so I’m passing it on here as an addition to yesterday’s blog.  She says, 

The study confirms something that was known at least 20 years ago. A prior study was done with the Sisters of Notre Dame in the Motherhouse at Mankato, MN. (My Aunt, Sister Rosalyn, lived there and I have a book describing the study). The population is perfect for a study, because the subjects have 60 to 80 years of detailed medical records readily available and their lives are very similar in many ways. One of the things they found is that a particular woman could have massive plaques and tangles in her brain, but if she had lived a healthy life with proper diet and exercise, so that there was also no blockages that might cause strokes or heart attacks, there would be no symptoms of dementia. The theory was that your body will do workarounds to keep you symptom-free if you give it the chance.

[Interesting and even more hopeful.]