WHILE day-to-day thinking slows down the hotter it gets, the opposite has been shown in those with dementia.
A 2018 study from scientists in the U.S. and Canada found that in those with dementia, brain performance is equivalent to that in someone up to four years younger during summer and autumn compared with winter. For this reason, new diagnoses of dementia were 30 per cent less likely in summer.
Professor Philip De Jager, from Columbia University, explains: ‘The expression pattern of certain groups of brain genes are altered in a seasonal manner, and these might be involved in changes in cognitive function.’
The researchers suggest this variation should affect how we test for dementia.
