Nun Study

Common card · No. 334097

The Nun Study of Aging and Alzheimer's Disease is a continuing longitudinal study, begun in 1986, to examine the onset of Alzheimer's disease. David Snowdon, an epidemiologist and the founding Nun Study investigator, started the Nun Study at the University of Minnesota, later transferring the study to the University of Kentucky in 1990. In 2008, with Snowdon's retirement, the study returned to the University of Minnesota. The Nun Study was very briefly moved from the University of Minnesota to Northwestern University in 2021 under the directorship of Dr. Margaret Flanagan. The Nun Study is currently housed at the University of Arizona in Tucson under the continued directorship of neuropathologist, Dr. Margaret Flanagan. The Sisters' autobiographies written just before they took their vows (ages 19–21) revealed that positivity was closely related to longevity and idea density, which is related to conversation and writing. This research found that higher idea density scores correlated with...

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