Infections and decrease the level of intelligence of a person throughout his life.
The Englishman Francis Bacon, who was the first to put forward the idea of \u200b\u200bcreating intelligence tests, believed that mental abilities are transmitted from parents to children.. However, to date, it has been proven that in addition to genetics, many factors affect the IQ level: age, nutrition, social environment.. According to researchers from the University of Aarhus and the University of Copenhagen, a person's intelligence also depends on the number of infectious diseases he has suffered, writes Segodnya.
A group of Danish scientists found that diseases caused by the penetration of pathogenic microbes, viruses and prions into the body can negatively affect the cognitive abilities of people, which is expressed in a decrease in their IQ. The research results are published in the scientific journal PLOS ONE.
Researchers have shown that the more a person has suffered from infectious diseases, the more his IQ decreases, according to Pannochka, an Internet publication for girls and women from 14 to 35 years old.. net The study, funded by the Stanley Medical Foundation, the European Research Council and the Lundbeck Foundation, involved 190 thousand. male conscripts from Denmark born between 1976 and 1994. The IQ level of the subjects was measured from 2006 to 2012. At the same time, 35% of recruits had previously suffered infectious diseases and were hospitalized.
" - People with five or more hospitalizations due to infection have IQs 9.44 points below average.
Thus, the study showed a clear relationship between the number of infectious diseases and the effect on cognitive abilities of a person, which is stronger the closer in time the last infection was and the stronger it was "
In addition, the researchers found that the longer and more severe the infectious diseases in the subjects, the lower their IQ.. Scientists believe that brain infections - viral encephalitis and viral meningitis - have the strongest effect on cognitive abilities.. However, other infectious diseases - skin, stomach, urogenital, - requiring immediate hospitalization of the patient, can also reduce the level of IQ..
Infectious diseases affect the human brain both directly and through peripheral inflammation.
It has been previously shown that infections can cause depression and schizophrenia, as well as negatively affect the cognitive ability of people with dementia - acquired dementia. Danish researchers were the first to show that infections negatively affect the brain and mental abilities of healthy people.
" Therefore, it is important to conduct more research into the mechanisms that underlie the relationship between the human immune system and their mental health "
These results indicate that the immune system's response to infections can negatively affect the functioning of the brain and, therefore, human intelligence..
Previous animal experiments have also shown that the immune system can negatively impact cognitive performance..
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The scientists who conducted the study hope that the results will serve as an incentive for further investigation of the possible influence of the immune system on the development of mental disorders.. According to experts from the University of Aarhus and the University of Copenhagen, this could improve the treatment of patients affected by infectious diseases.
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