CogniFit's Science blog: Alzheimer’s Disease And Its Conscequences

Alzheimer’s Disease And Its Conscequences




Genetics appears to play an important role. If a close member of your family developed the disease, there is an increased risk for you to do so. Other factors such as lifestyle can affect the emergence of the disease. It has been found that leading an active lifestyle and avoiding obesity and depression can help to minimize the occurrence of the disease.

As indicated earlier, Alzheimer’s disease causes physical changes to the brain. It affects the neurons and the manner in which the cells communicate with each other. Over time it can cause the brain cells to wither and die. As the cells diminish, so does mental function. In the early stages of the disease, most sufferers experience some memory loss. They may attribute this to normal aging. However as the disease progresses, the memory loss becomes more profound.

The person may initially be forgetful and absent minded. But as the disease intensifies, the sufferer may not remember friends or families. Over time they can even forget who they are and how to take care of themselves.

Ultimately the brain deteriorates to such as extent that it can no longer tell the body how to function properly. So it breaks down and the person eventually dies. There are a number of treatments which have been developed to help to address this disease and slow or even reverse the problems caused.

A number of drugs have been developed which appear to slow the progression of the disease. At this point there is no cure for the disease but it is hoped that eventually a course of treatment can be developed to do so.

In the mean time the drug therapies are applied to minimize the progression of memory loss and other cognitive functions. There are also a number of therapies which can help to strengthen the neural network and help to overcome some of the deficiencies caused by the degradation of these cells.