Dementia - Page 5 of 35

2 Personality Traits That Reduce Dementia Risk

People with these two personality traits lost less brain volume with age.

People who are low in agreeableness are better protected against neuro-degeneration with age, research finds.

Similarly, people who are non-conformists and those who are more curious have less chance of developing dementia.

The study is not the first to show a link between personality and brain aging.

Previous research has also shown that being neurotic can double the risk of dementia.

For the current study, the researchers tracked 65 elderly people for over four years.

All were given tests including brain imaging and assessments of their thinking skills.

Professor Panteleimon Giannakopoulos, the study’s first author, said:

“In order to get as complete a picture as possible, we decided to look at the non-lesional determinants of brain damage, i.e. the environment, lifestyle and psychology.
So we conducted cognitive and personality assessments.”

The results showed that two personality traits were linked to a lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s, the most common form of dementia.

People with the two personality traits lost less brain volume with age, whether or not they developed dementia.

Being low in agreeableness is, essentially, the reverse of being ‘nice’, explained Professor Giannakopoulos:

“A high level of agreeableness characterizes highly adaptive personalities, who want above all to be in line with the wishes of others, to avoid conflict, and to seek cooperation.
This differs from extraversion.
You can be very extroverted and not very pleasant, as are narcissistic personalities, for example.
The important determinant is the relationship to the other: do we adapt to others at our own expenses?”

The second personality trait linked to a lower risk of Alzheimer’s was being open to experience.

People who are open to experience tend to be curious about the world and seek out knowledge.

Professor Giannakopoulos:

“This is less surprising, as we already knew that the desire to learn and interest in the world around us protects against cerebral ageing.”

Personality change tends to be hard, said Professor Giannakopoulos:

“If it seems difficult to profoundly change one’s personality, especially at an advanced age, taking this into account in a personalized medicine perspective is essential in order to weigh up all the protective and risk factors of Alzheimer’s disease. It is an important part of a complex puzzle.”

The study was published in the journal Neurobiology of Aging (Giannakopoulos et al., 2020).

These Pastimes Reduce Dementia Risk The Most (M)

Certain activities are more likely to prolong cognitive health.

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This Common Drink Reduces Memory Loss Risk 70%

The common drink may help to delay dementia.

Drinking coffee is linked to a reduction in memory loss risk of up to 70%, research finds.

Three or more cups of coffee a day is associated with better memory over time than drinking only one cup.

Women over 80-years-old were 70% less likely to develop dementia if they drank three or more cups of coffee a day.

Those over 65 saw a drop in risk of 30% if they drank three or more cups.

The study included 7,017 people who were followed for four years.

Their cognitive performance was tested, along with their caffeine consumption.

The protective effect against memory loss was only seen in women in this study.

Dr Karen Ritchie, the study’s first author, said:

“Women may be more sensitive to the effects of caffeine.
Their bodies may react differently to the stimulant, or they may metabolize caffeine differently.”

However, other studies have since shown neuroprotective effects in men as well.

Dr Karen Ritchie, the study’s first author, cautioned:

“While we have some ideas as to how this works biologically, we need to have a better understanding of how caffeine affects the brain before we can start promoting caffeine intake as a way to reduce cognitive decline.
But the results are interesting — caffeine use is already widespread and it has fewer side effects than other treatments for cognitive decline, and it requires a relatively small amount for a beneficial effect.”

While coffee seemed to have a neuroprotective effect, the rates of dementia were the same in people who drank coffee as those who did not.

This suggests caffeine may help to delay dementia, rather than preventing it.

Dr Ritchie said:

“We really need a longer study to look at whether caffeine prevents dementia; it might be that caffeine could slow the dementia process rather than preventing it.”

The study was published in the journal Neurology (Ritchie et al., 2007).

The Very Popular Food Linked To Brain Shrinkage

The shrinkage is linked to developing Alzheimer’s disease or another type of dementia.

Excess sugar in the diet could lead to brain shrinkage, a study suggests.

A smaller brain is also linked to problems in old age, such as dementia.

All of the 249 people in the study had blood sugar levels in the normal range.

However, those with higher blood sugar levels were more likely to have less brain volume in key areas in the hippocampus (memory) and amygdala (emotion and cognition).

Shrinkage in both of these areas is also linked to developing Alzheimer’s disease or another type of dementia.

Dr Nicolas Cherbuin, the study’s first author, said:

“Numerous studies have shown a link between type 2 diabetes and brain shrinkage and dementia, but we haven’t known much about whether people with blood sugar on the high end of normal experience these same effects.”

The researchers controlled for other factors that might have affected the relationship including smoking, high blood pressure and alcohol use.

Dr Cherbuin said:

“These findings suggest that even for people who do not have diabetes, blood sugar levels could have an impact on brain health.
More research is needed, but these findings may lead us to re-evaluate the concept of normal blood sugar levels and the definition of diabetes.”

The study was published in the journal Neurology (Cherbuin et al., 2012).

How Oral Health Affects Brain Health (M)

Bacteria related to gum disease can travel from the mouth to the brain.

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This Personality Trait Raises Dementia Risk 48%

The scientists followed over one thousand twins in Sweden over 28 years.

People who have experienced high levels of anxiety in their lives have a 48 percent higher risk of developing dementia.

Dr Andrew Petkus, who led the study, said:

“Anxiety, especially in older adults, has been relatively understudied compared to depression.
Depression seems more evident in adulthood, but it’s usually episodic.
Anxiety, though, tends to be a chronic lifelong problem, and that’s why people tend to write off anxiety as part of someone’s personality.”

The scientists followed over one thousand twins in Sweden over 28 years.

Each pair were tested every three years and screened for dementia symptoms.

Amongst identical twins, it was the more anxious of the pair that was at a higher risk of developing dementia.

This is the first study to find a link between anxiety and a higher risk of developing dementia.

Professor Margaret Gatz, a co-author of the study, described those in the high-anxiety group:

“They are people who you would say operate at a ‘high level of anxiety’.
They are frantic, frazzled people.
Those in the high anxiety group were about 1.5 times more likely to develop dementia.”

The link between anxiety and dementia could be a result of cortisol — the so-called ‘stress hormone’ — damaging the brain.

There may also be genetic factors that help explain the link.

The study was published in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia (Petkus et al., 2016).

A Personality Change Like This May Signal Dementia

The personality changes came ahead of more obvious behavioural changes linked to Alzheimer’s.

Increases in neuroticism may help to predict the onset of Alzheimer’s, new research finds.

Neuroticism is one of the five major personality traits and it involves a tendency towards worry and moodiness.

Neuroticism is characterised by negative thinking in a range of areas.

Neuroticism is strongly linked to anxiety, sadness, irritability and self-consciousness.

People who transition from mild cognitive impairment to full-blown Alzheimer’s are more likely to show personality changes.

Many people with mild cognitive impairment do not go on to develop dementia.

Both increased neuroticism and lower openness to experience predict the progression of the most common form of dementia, Alzheimer’s disease.

The conclusions come from a study that followed people for more than 7 years.

They were tested for personality, anxiety, depression and other symptoms.

The researchers found that personality changes typically came after memory had begun to worsen.

Increases in depression, anxiety and anger were strongly linked to the transition to dementia.

However, the personality changes came before typical behaviour changes — such as like mood swings — were obvious.

The study’s authors write that Alzheimer’s disease is…

“…characterized by greater neuroticism and less openness; and coincide with subtle, clinically insignificant behavioral changes that qualitatively mirror and anticipate the clinically severe behavioral problems that often complicate dementia care.”

The study was published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (Caselli et al., 2018).

This Sleep Pattern Accelerates Memory Loss – Possible Link to Alzheimer’s

Sleep pattern lowered levels of an antioxidant that helps fight cellular damage, such as that caused by Alzheimer’s.

Sleep disruptions similar to jet lag could cause memory problems linked to Alzheimer’s disease, research finds.

It’s well-known by scientists that there’s a link between Alzheimer’s and sleep, but not what causes what.

Professor Gregory Brewer, who led the research, said:

“The issue is whether poor sleep accelerates the development of Alzheimer’s disease or vice versa.
It’s a chicken-or-egg dilemma, but our research points to disruption of sleep as the accelerator of memory loss.”

The research gave jet-lag to mice that had been genetically engineered to suffer from Alzheimer’s.

They did this by moving the dark period every three days to a different time — which is what causes jet-lag.

The jet-lagged mice had lower levels of an antioxidant that helps fight cellular damage, such as that caused by Alzheimer’s.

This suggests it could be poor sleep that is contributing to the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.

Professor Brewer said:

“This study suggests that clinicians and caregivers should add good sleep habits to regular exercise and a healthy diet to maximize good memory.”

Dementia and sleep

Many other studies have found a link between dementia and sleep.

People who sleep for too little or too long are at a higher risk of cognitive decline and dementia.

Indeed, people who sleep more than 9 hours a night have double the risk of developing dementia, one study found.

However, those who sleep for between 5.5 and 7.5 hours per night do not see declines in their cognitive health, even when suffering the early effects of Alzheimer’s disease.

Those sleeping longer also have lower brain volumes.

Also, getting less REM sleep — the phase in which we dream — is linked to dementia.

During sleep the brain cycles between periods of deep sleep and then up towards shallower periods of sleep in which we tend to dream, whether we remember those dreams or not.

During REM sleep the eyes move rapidly from side-to-side (hence Rapid Eye Movement Sleep).

Sleep apnea has also been linked to developing Alzheimer’s disease.

The most common signs of sleep apnea, which affects 30 percent of older people, include:

Loud snoring,
gasping for air during sleep,
breathing stopping for brief periods during the night,
morning headache,
and daytime sleepiness and irritability.

The study was published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease (Brewer et al., 2015).

A New Drug Slows Alzheimer’s By One-Third (M)

Patients were also 40 percent less likely to progress from mild cognitive impairment to full-blown dementia after taking the drug.

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The Popular Drink Linked To Cognitive Decline — Yet Again

While the drink used to be thought safe for brain health, the latest research finds otherwise.

Drinking as little as three glasses of wine or three cans of beer per week is linked to Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, research finds.

People who drank more than this amount of any alcohol, the study found, had elevated levels of iron in their brains.

Iron accumulation has been found in both Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease and may help to explain cognitive decline.

The research included over 20,000 people included in the UK Biobank study.

All had reported their alcohol consumption and had their brains scanned, while 7,000 had had MRIs of their livers to assess iron levels.

Average alcohol intake was around 18 UK units, which is equivalent to over 7 cans of beer or 6 large glasses of wine.

The results showed that anything above 7 units per week was linked to high levels of iron in the basal ganglia, a group of neurons involved in a whide range of cognitive functions, such as learning, movement and the emotions.

Dr Anya Topiwala, the study’s first author, said:

“In the largest study to date, we found drinking greater than 7 units of alcohol weekly associated with iron accumulation in the brain.
Higher brain iron in turn linked to poorer cognitive performance.
Iron accumulation could underlie alcohol-related cognitive decline.”

In the US, 7 units is this is about 4 standard drinks, which are 12 oz of beer, 5 oz of wine or 1.5 oz of a distilled spirit.

Reassessing alcohol’s effect on the brain

While moderate drinking used to be thought safe for brain health, the latest research finds otherwise.

Lower and lower amounts of alcohol have been linked to cognitive decline and neurodegeneration.

For example, as little as one alcoholic drink per day has been linked to brain shrinkage.

People who have as little as a glass of wine or pint of beer each day show greater signs of brain shrinkage with age.

Averaging four drinks a day was linked by this study to the equivalent of 10 years of brain aging.

The more people drink, therefore, the stronger the association gets between alcohol and brain shrinkage.

Even low levels of alcohol intake can damage memory, problem-solving skills and the ability to read emotions.

And alcohol continues to cause brain damage even six weeks after giving it up.

The study was published in the journal PLOS Medicine (Topiwala et al., 2022).