Can loneliness develop dementia?

People are the most sociable living beings on the planet, nevertheless, according to recent research, 1.5 million Britons aged over 50 suffer from ‘chronical loneliness’. Loneliness can lead to destructive consequences to our happiness and health. The facts that loneliness is twice as likely to develop dementia is scientifically proven as well as developing depression.  Furthermore, researchers claim that loneliness leads to hypertension, heart disease and increases the risk of obtaining a stroke.

Half of British adults feel lonely especially when they come home from work. They have no one to talk to, a fifth of elder people have no close friends at all and the only company they have is television. Scientists suggest teach elder people to use technology so they can search for groups or volunteering opportunities and meet new people.

How Dementia Affects Personality?

The way we think, feel, and act is how we are differentiated between others. Our whole life is influenced by our habits, traits, and the way we perceive the world. Unfortunately, some conditions are able to affect the way we behave and think, that is not common for our personality qualities.

Alzheimer’s Disease

The disease deals with the cognitive response and affects thinking, decision-making, memory. Usually, people start to behave in a reverse way that is common for them. A sweet and caring person may become bossy, demanding, and angry, or, someone who used to be worried about anything can become open and easygoing.

Stay sharp

Aging is associated with many cognitive dysfunctions such as forgetfulness, inattention or slow processing. Despite the fact that life expectancy is much higher than one hundred years ago, cognitive abilities are becoming less sharp after 65 and are under the risk to advance to dementia.

Recent researches prove that brain functions can be managed during lifetime, modifying the risk factors that affect our genes. Not long ago people still believed that Alzheimer’s disease is an ordinary process of aging. Indeed, dementia cases are proved to be delayed by lifestyle factors that keep our brain in shape.

Alzheimer's and gum

Recent research demonstrated the further relationship between dementia and gum disease bacteria. According to the journal Science Advances, the study discovered the bacteria identified with chronic gum disease known as Porphyromonas gingivalis in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s, which boosted the production amyloid-beta associated with Alzheimer’s. The study progressed to testing new drugs, which are believed to be the basis of a human treatment against Alzheimer’s and are meant to be tested on people later this year.

Leaky blood vessels in the brain may be an early sign of Alzheimer's disease

During recent research, that was recently published in the Nature Medicine journal, was detected that regardless the presence of Alzheimer’s-related protein amyloid and tau older adults with serious memory declines had a high blood vessels leakage. The examination led to the idea of a new drug target for condition prevention, as it could be an early and totally independent process.
The brain tissue is protected by the blood-brain barrier from any damage. The function is destroyed when the vessels stop providing the nutrients and blood flow to the neurons and toxic proteins invade. In other words, were the amyloid or tau pathology present or not, cognitive impairment was still there. Now it is of great value to identify when mental decline starts to take place after damaging the brain blood vessels.

Physical activity and cognivive functions

Physical activity and an active lifestyle have always been associated with a higher level of a person’s cognition. According to the latest researches, older adults are not an exception, despite the presence of brain lesions attached to dementia. In other words, cognition functions independently of brain pathologies that one may have and improves its performance when the physical activity takes place. Precisely aerobics influences the level growth of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and hippocampal volume, which consequently helps slow cognition decline.

Is there a connection between Herpes Viruses and Alzheimer’s Disease?

Research has shown that two herpes viruses perform in Alzheimer’s disease, but do they really influence the course of Alzheimer’s? According to the examination of brain tissues of a healthy person and one that died from Alzheimer’s, strong evidence was built that demonstrates the cooperation of herpes virus genes and Alzheimer’s risk genes. Thus, the presence of HHV-6 and HHV- 7 (herpes viruses) were two times higher than in the healthy brain tissues, anyways, only their presence is not enough to bring Alzheimer’s disease.