Researchers from Canada and the United States came to the conclusion that between the brains and the seasons have a connection. Most notably it is manifested in old age. Details of a joint study of canadian and American scientists published in the journal PLOS Medicine.
In particular, scientists-neurologists from the University of Toronto and the Centre for the study of Alzheimer’s disease at rush University studied the data of three and a half thousand people in the USA, Canada and France in the age of 70 years, part of which was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Experts performed neuropsychological testing which helped to determine the quality of the brain, and also carried out genetic analysis of samples of cerebrospinal fluid to determine the innate propensity for development of Alzheimer’s disease.
As a result, the authors noticed a curious pattern. In particular, their study showed that in cold weather people are 31 percent more likely to diagnose of dementia or moderate cognitive disorder. According to scientists, the average human brain works best in late summer and early autumn, and the worst – in the winter and spring months.
“Seasonal difference in the level of intelligence in cognitive healthy older adults is equivalent to nearly five years difference in age. In other words, in summer and autumn, elderly people in an intellectual sense are under the age of five years”, – said the authors of the project.
The dependence of intellectual abilities from scientists explain the influence of the amount of different factors. For example, as cognitive function can affect such seasonal aspects, such as quantity of light and heat, the ability to have fresh food, including vegetables and fruits, the duration of sleep. In addition, the brain is subject to seasonal rhythms of mental States that also correlate with the time of year (for example, depression is most often seen in winter).
Earlier Magicforum wrote that scientists have determined an extremely significant risk to health from just one sleepless night.