FROM DAILY MAIL: The roots of cognitive decline later in life may begin in childhood, a major new study suggests.
Researchers discovered that the experience of childhood loneliness is strongly linked to accelerated cognitive decline and a significantly higher risk of dementia in people 50 and up.
The critical factor was the subjective, emotional feeling of loneliness itself, which sharply increased dementia risk even for those who had friends.
Crucially, the link persisted even for those who were no longer lonely as adults, suggesting the damaging effects of early-life isolation can cast a long shadow over the brain’s health.
While loneliness at any age is a known risk factor for cognitive decline and dementia, childhood is of significant importance as it is a period of significant brain development. Additionally, children are vulnerable to stressors such as loneliness, poverty, food insecurity, neglect, and bullying.
Of the roughly 1,400 adults in the study, about half said they had been lonely with no close friends in childhood.
When people are lonely as children, they present with lower memory and thinking skills in middle age, and their cognitive abilities decline at a faster rate than those who were not lonely as kids.
READ MORE AT DAILY MAIL
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