Aging with Grace: What the Nun Study Teaches Us About Leading Longer, Healthier, and More Meaningful Lives

As I get older, I am becoming more interested in what will happen to my mind. The statistics are not encouraging; Alzheimer’s disease is now the 6th leading cause of death in the U.S., and as the population ages, incidence is increasing. Conventional wisdom is that dementia is an inevitable part of the aging process. Fortunately, as this book tells us, that conventional wisdom is wrong. Snowden is an epidemiologist who is directing the Nun Study, in which 678 nuns have been followed for cognitive function and ultimately have had their brains biopsied for biological evidence of Alzheimer’s. Typically the biopsies show what mental function predicts, but occasionally there are fascinating cases of disease ridden brains belonging to show more nuns with all their mental faculties and cases of healthy looking brains of nuns with severe cognitive decline. The author speculates about the role of lifestyle, education, faith, and positive thinking to explain his observations. show less

Not at all religious rather the report of an important aging study that followed a number of nuns over many years. The outcome is a mirror into what makes life worth living. The intellectually stimulated, the curious, seem to have extra defenses. And there seems to be a clear connection between livelyhood, trauma, immune system and dementia.

Terrifically helpful book with results for a decades-long study about how to predict likelihood of a long, healthy, happy, meaningful life. I've found myself referring to it in conversation many times over the years.

A very interesting book, chronicling the evolution of a seminal study of the brains of aged women, each a Catholic nun in the same religious order, and of the relationship between the researcher and the nuns. Important new understandings of the brain and Alzheimers were achieved through their shared work.

Snowdon, a leading expert in Alzheimer's disease, studied a population of 678 Catholic sisters. This book offers his findings along with inspiring stories of the sisters comprising the study cohort.

interesting about the study of alzheimers using the nuns in Mankato Minn.

It is the inspiring human story of these remarkable women—ranging in age from 74 to 106—whose dedication to serving others may help all of us live longer and healthier lives.