A nun's college essay could predict her risk of Alzheimer's 60 years later

In the Nun Study, David Snowdon analyzed autobiographies 678 nuns wrote in their early twenties, decades before any sign of dementia. Essays low in 'idea density' — fewer distinct ideas packed into each sentence — predicted a sharply higher risk of Alzheimer's disease in old age. The nuns' shared lifestyle and donated brains for autopsy made it one of the cleanest studies linking early cognitive ability to lifelong brain health.

— David Snowdon, Aging with Grace — 2001; original findings in JAMA, 1996
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