Dr. Justin Wood, an endocrinologist and the Krismer J. Watson Professor of Diabetes Research at Southwestern Medical Center, tells us how an elevated mental health score in middle age was associated with a 58% reduced risk of dementia, almost 10 years sooner than cognitive scores often predicted.”We know from our previous work that a sustained mental focus after age 65 is associated with increased risk of dementia in later years, especially for those who were older with less education,” Wood said in a statement prepared for presentation at AAG 2018. “We also know from our previous research that a sustained mental focus has resulted in reductions in cardiovascular disease risks. Given these linkages, we were interested in whether mindfulness interventions might be beneficial for lower cognitive scores in early life, especially for older adults who may also expect to be socially isolated.”Growth, Youth, and Mental Health, Aged and Mostly Disabled, the 21st Annual Meeting of the Endocrine Society is April 21-25, 2018 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. For more information, see this time-lapse video posted by the American Society of Humanocrinologists.