“I donated my brain, so when the time comes, they can make a study of it. The fact that I have not had any of this Alzheimer’s disease, or even an inclination so far is something they would naturally want to study.”
— Sister M. Celine Koktan, 97 years old in March 2009
“We’ve received over 500 brains.”
— Dr. Karen Santa Cruz, neuropathologist.
Can you imagine being asked to be part of a study where the researcher asks if you not only would be willing to take part, but would mind terribly donating your brain to be dissected after you’re gone?
That is exactly what was asked of the nuns participating. Of the 678 sisters in the original study about four dozen are still living. But researchers already have begun analyzing the more than 500 brains saved to dissect and study.
The nun study is one of the most dynamic and powerful studies on the impact of positive emotions and thoughts in the history of positive psychology. Researchers Danner, Snowdon, and Friesen (2001) from the University of Kentucky sampled the nuns, perfect subjects for a study because of the profound similarities around their physical health. They have similar, regularized diets, live together in similar surroundings, do not have children, and do not smoke or drink to excess. In other words, their physical backgrounds and conditions are about as controlled for as any group of human beings might be.
Four features formed the study’s foundation.
Initially, it was predicated by other findings which demonstrated that negative emotions suppress the immune system and increase the risk of infections and disease. It was also known that positive emotions would have the opposite effect.
Because temperament seems to have great consistency over the lifespan, the nun study looked at the degree to which a positive or negative approach to life would affect lifelong physical health. Since the nuns’ living conditions, histories and environmental factors were “controlled” by their life choice, the impact of their emotional disposition would help determine their longevity.
Temperament also determines people’s capacity for coping with stress and life challenges. Those with positive outlooks manage better. Positive attitudes not only provide a type of inoculation to immune system insults, but continuing defenses against the effects of life stressors.
Finally, research prior to the nun study had shown that people who write about their emotions articulate and demonstrate their emotional outlook.
The researchers hypothesized that analyzing autobiographies the nuns had written as young women would reveal their emotional temperament and the basic aspects of their outlook. A second hypothesis involved whether a positive versus a negative expression could predict the nuns’ health and longevity.
These autobiographies were written in the 1930s and 1940s, at the time the nuns were seeking entry into the convent; average age was 22. Researchers coded them in terms of positive, negative and neutral words. Ultimately the research focused on three features of these statements: positive emotion words, sentences, and variety of positive emotional expressions.
In addition to the brains of the sisters who have died, the archive has medical, dental and academic records. But to understand what these researchers were looking for in those original autobiographies, look at these samples taken from the original study.
Sister 1 (low positive emotion): I was born on September 26, 1909, the eldest of seven children, five girls and two boys . . . . My candidate year was spent in the Motherhouse, teaching Chemistry and Second Year Latin at Notre Dame Institute. With God’s grace, I intend to do my best for our Order, for the spread of religion and for my personal sanctification.
Sister 2 (high positive emotion): God started my life off well by bestowing upon me a grace of inestimable value… . The past year which I have spent as a candidate studying at Notre Dame College has been a very happy one. Now I look forward with eager joy to receiving the Holy Habit of Our Lady and to a life of union with Love Divine.
The analysis was done roughly 60 years later, when the study was undertaken and the nuns were between 75 and 94 years old. By that time 42 percent of them had died.
What researchers found in their data was astonishing. Simply put, the nuns who expressed more positive emotions lived, on average, a decade longer than their less cheerful peers. By the average age of 80, 60 percent of the least happy nuns had died. This isn’t a misprint: A full 60 percent of the least happy nuns had died. The probability of survival was consistently in favor of the more positive nuns. There seems to be a direct relationship between being positive and longevity.
What is most intriguing about this landmark study is that it wasn’t just about happiness. It was actually about Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers considered the effect these positive approaches toward life might have on the devastating effects of dementia.
A decade after the original study was conducted, ongoing research about these nuns is more than curious. Not only did the sisters who seemed to have a more positive outlook on life have less disease and lower mortality rates, they also seemed to have a natural immunization against the ravages of Alzheimer’s disease.
Researchers have begun to study the nuns’ donated brains. What has been found? About half of the brains are free of Alzheimer’s. And yes, there is a strong, seemingly causal, correlation: The nuns with positive perspectives on life were free of the disease, and those with negative outlooks had symptoms of dementia.
There is an interesting twist in the study. To date, there are about 15 brains so far that appear diseased, but the nuns showed no signs of dementia when they were alive. In other words, in spite of the disease actually being present they did not have the symptoms associated with it. Consider how powerful this data is. Not only can a positive way of being in the world perhaps keep you from getting disease, but even if you do contract it — even if the physical features of the disorder are present — you may somehow have the capacity to transcend its clutches.
In an unprecedented move, to advance the study of this phenomenon the University of Minnesota has agreed to digitally scan the images of these brains so that researchers around the world can have access to the data.
To recap: A positive outlook on life may not only help you live longer and prevent you from having a disease, but if you do have the disease you may not be as affected by it as your less optimistic and less cheerful counterparts.
Heaven is, indeed, helping.
Author’s note: While “nuns” and “sisters” frequently are used interchangeably in everyday conversation, technically, nuns are cloistered and live lives of contemplation. Sisters often live in community, but may hold outside jobs and live in private homes.
For more information on the study, please review the official site.
11 comments
As an energy healer, I see this in my practice every day. A positive attitude is essential to good health.
It is why Christiann Science works for many. That cheerful positive outlook has a positive result.
I think that as long as you have the same emotional reactions to life, it does not matter if you are a part of a religion or not. You have to be positive and religion does not have this same effect on all people.
Thank you Dan Tomasulo. Your work is always so professional, easy to read and understandable. It was personally timely since my neurologist just diagnosed me as neurologically sound. I think I just may want to go to a workshop with you.
Just to be clear. This argument is not in favor of faith, religion, or prayer. It could have been done with any group of people living very similar lifestyles.
Since the Nuns who lived longer seemed to start out with a positive temperment, I wonder if someone who’s temperment is mostly negitive would also experiance a longer life and less disease if they learned to take a more positive outlook or, does it only work with people who’ve had that positive outlook all along.
Anybody know if there is any sort of research on that, or have any ideas on the subject?
I have always been a mostly negitive person but have recently been trying to learn to stop dwelling on the negitive and trying to find the positive in things.
I read the nun study about 10 years ago when my mother was dying of Alzheimer’s. One idea about the plaques in the brain that has arisen, I thought, is that they may be protective reactions rather than the reason for the appearance of symptoms. Many nuns who had lots of plaques did not demonstrate disease, and some with very little, did. I’m not sure any correlations were made between positive emotions etc at the time the book was written. I just know that the person doing the dissections was not told ahead of time how symptomatic the person was, and often guessed wrong, due to plaque presence of lack of it.
Many factors surely interact. My mother suffered from an anxiety disorder but was mostly a positive person. She loved to paint, loved beautiful things, kept a beautiful house filled with refinished antiques,won many art awards, taught a class of paper mache for 17 years, until her disease overcame her in her late 70’s. She died at 80.
My aunt, her sister, is 87. Unlike my mother, she never smoked, but tends to be depressed and depressive, lived alone after her husband’s death, for 45 years. She does not have symptoms of Alzheimer’s though her memory is certainly failing her. She does drink her “cocktails” every day. Is that what has protected her? Both my grandmother’s and my mother had the symptoms of Alzheimer’s. Only one smoked. None of them drank much than an occasional glass of sherry. None of them exercises very much, but neither did my Aunt. There is a lot of learn about this devastating disease.
It only takes one person to make you happy and change your life: YOU. Sometimes we tend to rely on others for happiness. We focus our lives on who gives us the most, who earns our love and who shares with us the most. True happiness comes only when we accept to be happy and live it! Awesome read thank you Dr!
Jen, I loved your comment the most. It’s true, happiness must come from the inside out, not the outside in.
I think this study is absolutely remarkable. At the end of the day happiness based on hedonic stimuli will eventually fade, but if you can learn how to harvest happiness derived from eudaimonic stimuli you will have a more long lasting effect. True happiness comes from the inside out, not the outside in.
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