Aging in good mental health
Life expectancy is increasing, but how can we age well physically and mentally? A recent study shows beneficial effects of lifestyle changes such as mindfulness training and health education. This study concerns the first results obtained in the framework of the European scientific consortium H2020 "Meditaging", which is interested in the determining factors of mental health and well-being of seniors.
ULiège is participating in this ambitious project, through the GIGA-CRC In Vivo Imaging Centre, with Prof. Éric Salmon and Fabienne Collette.
"These initial results are particularly promising in showing that both a health education intervention and a mindfulness meditation programme reduce the anxiety level of elderly people who spontaneously report memory problems, and that this effect persists after six months," explains Fabienne Collette.
"Demonstrating the effectiveness of this type of intervention is important because the presence of an anxious state is a risk factor (among others) for the occurrence of a neurodegenerative disease. Our team at ULiège is mainly involved in the part of the project dealing with changes in cognitive abilities (attention, memory, etc.) and their cerebral bases following the different types of intervention."
Reference
Marchant N, L, Barnhofer T, Coueron R, Wirth M, Lutz A, Arenaza-Urquijo E, M, Collette F, Poisnel G, Demnitz-King H, Schild A, -K, Coll-Padros N, Delphin-Combe F, Whitfield T, Schlosser M, Gonneaud J, Asselineau J, Walker Z, Krolak-Salmon P, Molinuevo J, L, Frison E, Chételat G, Jessen F, Klimecki O,
Effects of a Mindfulness-Based Intervention versus Health Self-Management on Subclinical Anxiety in Older Adults with Subjective Cognitive Decline: The SCD-Well Randomized Superiority Trial. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, doi: 10.1159/000515669 https://www.karger.com/Article/FullText/515669
