Feeling that you lack purpose in your life and have few opportunities for personal growth could be an early sign of mental health problems, a new study says. MadnessThe Alzheimer’s Association says dementia is not a single disease. “It is an umbrella term that describes a collection of symptoms a person may experience when they have a number of diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease. The diseases that fall under the general term ‘dementia’ are caused by abnormal brain changes.”

The study was published in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry. The researchers found that in older adults, these aspects of psychological well-being declined markedly three to six years before a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment, in which a person’s memory and thinking are affected, yet not to the extent that it interferes with their daily functioning.

Mild cognitive impairment is often seen before dementia, in which symptoms become so severe that daily activities are hindered. The researchers, from the Department of Nutrition and Health at China Agricultural University, said that although there is growing evidence linking psychological well-being to brain aging and related disorders, such as dementia, much of it focuses on the aspect of a person’s sense of purpose rather than others, including personal growth.

For the study, researchers followed 910 older adults in the US over a period of more than 10 years. The participants were over 80 years old on average and were cognitively healthy, undergoing annual checkups including tests of brain function, cognition and psychological health.

The authors found that about a third (265) of the 910 developed mild cognitive impairment. About a third (89) of those 265 developed dementia, they said. “Compared with participants who remained cognitively intact, those who developed mild cognitive impairment had lower levels of purpose in life 3 years before diagnosis and lower levels of personal growth 6 years before diagnosis,” the authors wrote.

The researchers also found that among the individuals studied, 75 percent of whom were women, those with mild cognitive impairment were older, weighed less and had poorer levels of psychological well-being, compared with those who were cognitively intact.

The authors noted that since this was an observational study, they could not draw any firm conclusions about cause and effect. Also, even though the processes that underlie the relationship between health and cognitive function are not well understood, the authors said there may be a two-way relationship between factors.

In other words, they reported that poor cognition can affect psychological well-being and vice versa. They suggested that better well-being and cognitive function may also share some protective factors. The authors wrote, “Our findings indicate that personal growth and purpose in life may be more cognitively demanding than other components of well-being, and may therefore serve as more sensitive indicators of cognitive aging.”

Get the latest news on Times Now as well as breaking news and top headlines from across health and the world.