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Health See other Health Articles Title: New Trigger of Alzheimer’s Identified: Stress New Trigger of Alzheimer’s Identified: Stress October 10, 2013 | 51,689 views By Dr. Mercola The connections between stress and physical and mental health are undeniable. Studies have found links between acute and/or chronic stress and a wide variety of health issues. This includes reduced immune function, increased inflammation, high blood pressure, and alterations in your brain chemistry, blood sugar levels and hormonal balance, just to name a few. According to recent research, stress also appears to be related to onset of Alzheimer’s disease, which currently afflicts about 5.4 million Americans, including one in eight people aged 65 and over.1 It is projected that Alzheimer's will affect one in four Americans in the next 20 years, rivaling the current prevalence of obesity and diabetes. There is still no known cure for this devastating disease, and very few treatments. Alzheimer's drugs are often of little to no benefit, which underscores the importance of prevention throughout your lifetime. Fortunately, there’s compelling research showing that your brain has great plasticity and capacity for regeneration, which you control through your diet and lifestyle choices. Avoiding gluten and casein, or wheat and dairy primarily, appears to be of critical importance, as is making sure you’re getting plenty of healthful fats (including demonized saturated fats). Fasting also has a remarkably beneficial influence on your brain health. At the end of this article, I share my best tips for maintaining healthy brain function well into old age. Stress May Be Related to Clinical Onset of Alzheimer’s Disease Researchers in Argentina recently presented evidence suggesting that stress may be a trigger for the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. The research was presented at the annual World Congress of Neurology in Vienna. According to lead author, Dr. Edgardo Reich:2 "Stress, according to our findings, is probably a trigger for initial symptoms of dementia. Though I rule out stress as monocausal in dementia, research is solidifying the evidence that stress can trigger a degenerative process in the brain and precipitate dysfunction in the neuroendocrine and immune system. It is an observational finding and does not imply direct causality. Further studies are needed to examine these mechanisms in detail." The study found that 72 percent—nearly three out of four—Alzheimer's patients had experienced severe emotional stress during the two years preceding their diagnosis. In the control group, only 26 percent, or one in four, had undergone major stress or grief. Most of the stresses encountered by the Alzheimer’s group involved: •Bereavement; death of a spouse, partner, or child •Violent experiences, such as assault or robbery •Car accidents •Financial problems, including “pension shock” •Diagnosis of a family member’s severe illness When you consider all the adverse biological effects that stress and anxiety causes, it might not be such a stretch that severe stress could trigger Alzheimer’s. For example, researchers have found links between emotional distress and physical pain,3 chronic inflammation4 and even stillbirths.5 It can also wreak havoc on your gut health, which is critical to maintaining mental and physical health. Most recently, Forbes6 reported the findings of a study7 exploring the role of stress in rewiring your brain—in this case, altering your sense of smell: “Two brain circuits that don’t typically “talk” to each other—one linked to our sense of smell and another linked to emotional processing—can become cross-wired when we experience stress-induced anxiety. The result is that stressful experiences transform normally neutral odors into bad ones... ‘After anxiety induction, neutral smells become clearly negative,’ explains Wen Li, a professor of psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Waisman Center, who led the study. ‘People experiencing an increase in anxiety show a decrease in the perceived pleasantness of odors. It becomes more negative as anxiety increases.’” Poster Comment: I always thought it was aluminum in the brain that caused Alzheimers. Now it looks as if the real cause is stress. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
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