It seems that some of us (present company included) are in the group of people who may be protecting themselves from Alzheimer's Disease all unawares.

Research on Alzheimer's indicates that "overthinking" current problems, past situations, anticipated future events, and analyzing them ad nauseum may be a good thing. Dementia was found to be less prevalent in men (women weren't mentioned) who said they ruminated (from the Latin rumen meaning throat--ruminants chew their cud) about life's matters.

I guess that means there's a positive value for men who obsess over every detail of a missed pitch, a batting error, or a grand slam home run. And talk about it until it has been driven into the ground.

In addition, being married or in a long term partnership was associated with a lower risk of dementia. I can certainly see how married men would benefit from being married. The ones I know do not have to manage household details, cook, clean, do laundry, plan nutritious meals or anything of that sort. That would certainly lower one's stress level and lower stress levels correlate with longer/healthier life.

Divorced singles who remained alone had a three-fold increase in cognitive decline. I guess we're social animals after all.