Unhappy older people experienced six years of memory decline in lockdown

Older people who became anxious and depressed during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, suffered a rapid decline in their short-term memory - equivalent to six years of natural ageing.

Academics at the University of Exeter and King's College London studied the mental health and memory powers of 6,300 people aged over 50 years-old and found depressed individuals experienced six years of memory decline after spending time in lockdown.

However, happy people experienced no change in their memory.

The study analysed participants from the first UK lockdown in March 2020 and the second lockdown in November 2020.

Academics gave study participants short-term memory tests and found the largest dip in memory and attention were seen in people whose scores indicated moderate or higher levels of anxiety and depression.

Depressed people in lockdown had score results that indicated memory loss equivalent to six years of natural aging while their attention span also declined and was equivalent to five years of ageing.

Lead researcher Dr Helen Brooker at the University of Exeter said: “We found that people who were more anxious and depressed during 2019-20 also saw their short-term memory and ability to focus worsen, by the equivalent of five to six years of what we’d expect to see from natural ageing.

“It’s likely that key factors were the unprecedented impact of worsening mental health caused by widespread anxiety over the pandemic, and long periods of lockdown.”

Researchers aim to understand how healthy brains age and why people develop dementia.

The research was conducted by the PROTECT study, led by the University of Exeter and the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King’s College London. Study findings were presented at the Clinical Trials on Alzheimer’s Disease Conference in Boston, US.

Dr Brooker added: “We need to understand this better so we can create effective strategies to support people and preserve both mental health and brain health in future pandemics.”