You already know that staying physically and mentally active may help stave off dementia, but researchers have found yet another protective trick—having a purpose in life.
Now, I don’t mean having a goal that has a definite end point, such as telling yourself that you’ll run a marathon or write a novel.
For brain protection, having a purpose in life is a little bit different.
What are some examples of “purposes,” and how can you figure out what yours is if you don’t already have one?
I’m happy to say that figuring out your life’s purpose is not that hard to do. More on that in a minute, but first, let me show you what the study found.
Researchers analyzed 246 senior citizens who received annual cognitive testing for about 10 years. Each was asked questions to determine whether he or she had a strong purpose in life. When participants died, they underwent brain autopsies.
What the researchers found was that in participants who had a lot of plaques and tangles in their brains—abnormal structures in and around the brain’s nerve cells that are hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease—the rate of cognitive decline had been about 30% slower for people who had a strong purpose in life compared with those who had had a weaker purpose or no purpose at all.
Here’s what I hope these findings mean: The stronger your purpose in life, the less likely you’ll suffer cognitive decline as you age, even if your brain is affected by Alzheimer’s signs. I hope that’s true because it means that you can preserve your cognitive ability by making sure that you have a purpose.
Of course, it could be the other way around—it could be that some people have a biological problem that makes them less able to cope with brain plaques and tangles and, also, less able to feel that their lives have purpose.
When I called lead study author Patricia A. Boyle, PhD, a neuropsychologist in the Alzheimer’s Disease Center at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, she acknowledged that her study doesn’t prove whether purposefulness helps our brains work better or is simply a side effect of a brain that is already working better. Maybe research will determine that one day. But on the other hand, since having a sense of purpose seems to make people happier, she said, why not cultivate one?
Based on her work with the study subjects, Dr. Boyle defines a life purpose as “the sense that one’s life has meaning and direction—that one is intentional and motivated to engage in activities that one finds important and fulfilling.” In other words, it’s what gets you out of bed each day and makes you feel that life is worth living.
A purpose doesn’t have to be ambitious or complicated. In fact, many purposes are simple, said Dr. Boyle. It just can’t have a definite end point—it has to last throughout your life. For example, some purposes include spending time every day with loved ones…helping other people (for example through long-term volunteer work)…learning something new every day…or passing down a certain set of knowledge or skills to a younger generation. If you love running marathons or writing novels, as I mentioned earlier, make sure that your goal is to continue pursuing those goals through life—and not just run one marathon or write one novel.
It’s not so much what your purpose is, Dr. Boyle said—what’s critical is how it makes you feel. If it stirs you up inside and makes you feel passionate, energetic and excited, then you’ve found it!
Here’s a great example: A colleague of mine, Sarah Hiner, noticed a long time ago that the word “shine” appears in her e-mail address because her address uses her first initial and last name. You might call it a random coincidence, but she considers it a sign—and her purpose in life. What inspires her every day is the opportunity to help those around her “shine,” so she makes it her mission to spread positivity and bring out the best in others.
What’s your purpose in life? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!
