Writing style as a crystal ball: will you get Alzheimer's disease?

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by Kevin Pezzi, MD

Can a person's writing style foretell whether that person is likely to develop Alzheimer's disease later in life?

Yes. Let's look at an example:

Who is more likely to succumb to Alzheimer's disease: the author of A or B?

(A) "I bought a Ski-Doo^® snowmobile in 1968. It was called the Super Alpine model. It had two tracks, which made it less likely to sink in deep snow. It was yellow and black, which I thought was attractive. It was noisy and used a lot of gas, but it was fun to ride and very unique."

(B) "As a child growing up in Michigan in the 1960s, I was fortunate enough to have a Ski-Doo^® Super Alpine. Though flawed by such minor annoyances as excessive noise and gas consumption, its twin tracks gave superior flotation and stability while riding in deep snow. The Super Alpine's yellow and black color scheme was complemented by a unique design, which afforded both functional and aesthetic benefits, providing the rider with a singularly pleasurable experience."

So who is more likely to succumb to Alzheimer's disease: the author of A or B? I realize it is difficult to believe that anyone intelligent enough to choose a Ski-Doo^® snowmobile might one day develop Alzheimer's, but for the sake of discussion, please hazard a guess. If you chose A, you are correct. The complexity of prose and idea density in B are noticeably greater, thus manifesting the author's superior cognitive ability. The author of A does not possess the short-term memory skills that are required to assemble more complex sentence structure.

In a study of 700 retired Midwestern nuns, complex writing skills in youth appear to correlate well with virtual immunity to Alzheimer's disease. An analysis of their autobiographical essays revealed that all of the nuns who wrote in simple sentences died with symptom's of Alzheimer's, but none of those with complex prose were afflicted with the disease. The similarity in education, environment, and diet among these nuns excludes those factors as confounding variables.

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You will have sex about 10,000 times during your life.

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Enhancing Sexual Pleasure, Performance, Attraction, and Desire

by Kevin Pezzi, MD

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