Do you know the way you often hear people saying that if you’ve got the right attitude it really helps? Well, scientists have now discovered that it’s actually very true.
Professor Billy O’Connor of Limerick University, who has a particular interest in brain research, says that, probably, the greatest discovery of this generation is that an individual can alter quality of life by altering attitudes.Commenting on research at Seoul National University in South Korea, he says this realization extends all the way into our brain to change its very structure.
“In other words,” says Professor O’Connor, “these findings add to the increasing scientific evidence that each person can consciously change their brain wiring and that we are not at the mercy of inherited modes of thinking, attitudes and beliefs.”
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The Seoul study is the first to link the brain’s ageing process with self-perception of ageing. “We found that people who feel younger have the structural characteristics of a younger brain,” said the lead study author of the research, Jeanyung Chey.The study, which involved using MRI brain scans to measure grey matter volumes in brain regions among participants aged 59 to 84 years, also found that those who felt younger than their chronological years scored higher on memory tests, considered their health to be better, and were less likely to report depressive symptoms.