新研究：悲觀的人更容易得老年癡呆症

Alzheimer's disease is not a pleasant diagnosis at the best of times, and now research suggests some of the early markers of the disease could actually be linked to our own, repetitive negative thought patterns.
即使在最好的情況下，人們也不喜歡聽到老年癡呆這個診斷結果，現在研究表明老年癡呆的一些早期症狀其實和我們自己重複的消極思維模式有關。
The study looked specifically at 'repeat negative thinking', which isn't just the regular sad thoughts we all go through - it's defined as a cognitive process that encompasses our worrying and ruminating thoughts.
這項研究特別關注了“重複消極思維”，並不是指我們常有的悲傷的想法，它其實是一個認知過程，包括我們的擔憂和反思。
What the team found was that these obsessive negative thought patterns were linked to an increase in cognitive decline and aggregation of amyloid beta proteins – a brain protein that's involved in Alzheimer's disease.
該團隊的研究結果是，這些強迫性消極思維模式與認知能力下降程度增加以及澱粉樣β蛋白的聚集有關，澱粉樣β蛋白是大腦中與老年癡呆有關的蛋白。
It's important to note that this research is still in early stages, has quite a few caveats, and is observational. And correlation doesn't equal causation - there's no evidence here that ruminating negative thoughts are causing these early signs of Alzheimer's.
值得注意的是，這項研究仍處於早期階段，有很多需要注意的地方，而且只是根據觀察得出的結論。相關性並不等同於因果關係，沒有證據表明反思的消極想法會導致老年癡呆的這些早期症狀的出現。
So, there's definitely no need to start thinking positive thoughts to try and prevent memory loss (although there are unrelated health benefits to reducing rumination).
所以，你根本沒必要爲了避免記憶力喪失而開始積極思考（雖然減少反思會對健康有其他方面的好處）。
But it's still an interesting study and if the research pans out, it could eventually give us a new way to test who could be at risk of Alzheimer's.
但這仍然是一項有趣的研究，如果這項研究能取得成功，最終會幫我們找到檢測患病風險的新方法。
"Understanding the factors that can increase the risk of dementia is vital in helping us improve our knowledge of this devastating condition and, where possible, developing prevention strategies," explains the Alzheimer's Society Director of Research and Influencing, Fiona Carragher.
阿爾茨海默症協會研究與影響主任Fiona Carragher解釋說：“找到增加患癡呆風險的因素很重要，能幫助我們提高對這種毀滅性情況的認知，甚至可以幫我們找到預防的方法。”