Exploring Environmental and Lifestyle Factors in Alzheimer’s Disease Risk

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Introduction

Alzheimer’s is a disease that is only growing with casualties as humans live longer and give Alzheimer’s a chance to take over the brain. The United States culture has been very active in letting people know what causes other diseases like cancer and heart attacks. Yet, it is seemingly talked about what causes Alzheimer’s. Most Americans believe that it is an inherited disease, and that’s the only way a person can get it. But in reality, only 30 to 40 percent of Alzheimer’s victims get it generically; the rest get infected by (environmental).

Some of the many ways a person can get Alzheimer’s are easy things like having stress, not getting quality sleep, having a bad diet, not taking care of the brain, and changing it to keep it healthy. All of these causes are due to not living a healthy lifestyle. By living a healthier lifestyle and being aware and educated about the possible ways to get Alzheimer’s, people should have a better chance of never getting the horrendous disease that tears away memories, happiness, and sole, and the percentage of Alzheimer’s victims should go down from the sixth leading cause of death in America, instead of going up.

Unmasking Alzheimer’s Causality

There is beginning to be a link between environmental exposure and Alzheimer’s. There is a very strong connection already found by scientists that pesticides DDT can cause Parkinson’s disease. There is beginning to be a study correlation between DDT and Alzheimer’s. Dr. Jason Richards at Rutgers University did a study that tested the blood of people who had Alzheimer’s. They tested the blood for DDT and DDE in most of the pertisapents, and “they had levels of DDT and DDE four times greater than the control group”. (Sneed) There is no surgeon answer as to how DDT and DDE can cause Alzhiermsers, but Dr. Jason Richards believes, “But he speculates that DDT/DDE somehow encourage growth of the amyloid proteins that make up the plaques associated with the disease.” (Sneed)

Sleep, Stress, and Cognitive Health

In life, humans develop diseases, and a lot of these diseases are caused by some sort of unhealthy lifestyle. It is very common for one disease to lead to another. In the case of Alzheimer’s, studies are showing that people who already have high cholesterol, elevated blood pressure, and diabetes have a greater chance of getting Alzheimer’s disease. (Reuters Health) Dr. Rebecca Gottesman of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine said, “Each alone may not be enough to increase the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, but having a number of these risk factors appears to be associated with an even higher risk” (Reuters Health) of getting Alzheimer’s disease.

This does not prove that if a person has one of these diseases, he or she will doomingly have Alzheimer’s, too. This does support that “vascular risk factors might directly impact Alzheimer’s changes in the brain” (Reuters Health). If vascular risk factors do impact getting Alzheimer’s, then it would be good for those individuals to know that they have a high risk of getting Alzheimer’s. After knowing that they can have time to do anything they can to delay or eliminate the disease. Not a lot of Americans have any idea that high cholesterol, elevated blood pressure, and diabetes could lead to Alzheimer’s disease. High cholesterol, elevated blood pressure, and diabetes are very common illnesses in America, and yet there is very little talk about how they can cause Alzheimer’s disease.

Stress and sleep are two things that Americans do all the time, and they have no idea that it can affect their mental health. Poor sleep can lead to high levels of beta-amyloid. Beta-amyloid is a brain-clogging protein. The brain tries to activate mechanisms to try to repair the myelin. The beta-amyloid blocks the repair mechanisms, and the brain stops producing myelin. Uninterrupted deep sleep is very important to the brain by helping flush the brain toxic out of the brain.

Persistent Stress and Chronic stress can hinder nerve cell growth and shrinkage in the memory area tissue of the brain. Hindering nerve cell growth leads to Alzheimer’s by the death of nerve cells. Alzheimer’s kills nervous cells, and if the nerve cells are prohibited from growing, this will increase the chance of getting Alzheimer’s, which could be caused by Persistent Stress and Chronic stress. The shrinkage of the memory tissue of the brain can lead to Alzheimer’s. The most common way Dementia starts is with the shrinkage of the brain tissue. Alzheimer’s is the most common form of Dementia. When the memory tissues start to shrink, the brain starts to forget memories. The most common forgotten memory of early memory tissue shrinkage is recent/newer memories. Need a source for this one.

Unhealthy diets can increase a person’s chance of getting Alzheimer’s by causing inflammation and insulin resistance in the brain, which injure neurons and inhibit communication between brain cells. An unhealthy diet leads to metabolic disorder, which is linked to the signal-processing system in the brain. Eating excessively processed foods can, along with other fatty foods, create insulin resistance, which will injure neurons in the brain. Refine carbs can make the brain have dramatic shifts in blood sugar, which can lead to insulin resistance; not eating a good helping of omega-three fat foods will not help the brain and could lead to Alzheimer’s because omega-three fat foods have beta-amyloid plaques, which will help prevent Alzheimer’s (Mace) pg:334.

Not taking the right vitamins could also lead to Alzheimer’s. Folic acid, vitamin B12, vitamin D, magnesium, fish oil, vitamin E, ginkgo biloba, and coenzyme Q10 help preserve the brain and decrease inflammation in the brain. Douud, Gwenale Preventing Alzhimers Dieses-Related to Gray Matter by Vitamin B Treatment says that “use of vitamin B intake supplements have reduced as much as seven-folds, cerebral atrophy in the gray matter” Pp 9523-9528; The effect that the vitamin B supplement possibly affects grey matter to support the brain health and prevent Alzheimer’s. Not taking the right vitamins could affect the chances of a person getting Alzheimer’s. The 36-Hour Day, by Mace, Nancy L., and Peter V. Rabins, explains how “Having a poor diet can lead to Cognitive Decline.”

Cognitive Engagement and Social Interaction

Cognitive abilities are memory and thinking skills. A person who has a cognitive decline has a very high risk factor of getting Alzheimer’s. Nitrosamines are nitrogen-based fertilizers that are used in Tabaco products, color, flavor, and preserve natural foods (Sneed). “Researcher Suzanne de la Monte of Brown University’s Warren Alpert Medical School believes there is a connection between the rising number of Alzheimer’s cases and the greater amounts of nitrogen-based chemicals added to our food” (Sneed). America has consumed extranmical amounts of tobacco, food color, flavor, and preserved foods. If the link between nitrosamines and causing Alzheimer’s is true, then America should be worried and start to avoid those products.

Living a physically active life could cause and lead to Alzheimer’s. The Alzheimer’s Research & Prevention Foundation said physical exercise can reduce a person’s risk of developing Alzheimer’s “by up to 50 percent.” By not participating in physical activity, an individual does not stimulate the brain, which provides its ability to make and maintain connections in the brain. Not being able to make and maintain old connections in the brain can lead to the deterioration of neurons in the brain and ultimately start Alzheimer’s.

Naftolin, Frederick, and Mitchell Harmans’s scholarly journal Preventing Alzheimer’s Disease and Cognitive decline describes “The interaction between physical activity and the putative mechanisms underlying Alzheimer’s disease progression.” (Putative mechanisms, means “the cause of death.”) Naftolin, Frederick, and Mitchell Harmans research that if a person is not physically active, it can lead to “putative mechanisms” of Alzheimer’s. When a person is physically active, they should avoid letting their head get hit and causing a head injury. Head injuries can increase a person’s chance of getting Alzheimer’s and is a greater chance after the age of fifty-five.

Physical Activity and Brain Vitality

Like most diseases, there are many contributing factors to getting Alzheimer’s. Brain health is a very important thing, and it is what Alzheimer’s attacks and breaks down. Not having a healthy working brain can lead to Alzheimer’s. There are many different ways that the brain can deteriorate and lead to Alzheimer’s.

“Keeping the brain working” is a way to prevent Alzheimer’s. A person that is not socially active and doesn’t have conversations with other human beings could lead to the deterioration of the brain and ultimately lead to Alzheimer’s. Not keeping the brain active and not challenging it daily could lead to Alzheimer’s. An example of keeping the brain actively thinking would be doing crossword puzzles, reading, brain food learning tools, and games.

When people don’t practice their memory, examples like looking at old photo albums and working on attaining a great memory could be in danger of Alzheimer’s. A Study conducted by NIH ACTIVE Help Guide said, “Older adults who received as few as ten sessions of mental training not only improved their cognitive functioning in daily activities in the months after the training but continued to show long-lasting improvements ten years later.” The NIH ACTIVE study provides evidence that not doing anything to help the brain’s health will not help it continue to be healthy and could lead to the deterioration of the brain.

Alzheimer’s can be passed down genetically. “30 to 40 percent of Alzheimer’s is passed down genetically”. Alzheimer’s can be passed down genetically by getting an APOE gene from one of your parents. Not everyone who has an APOE gene gets Alzheimer’s. The common miss belief is that Alzheimer’s is a genetic gene; if a person in the family has Alzheimer’s, the individuals in that family will get the disease. This is false because 30 to 40 percent of Alzheimer’s victims get the disease through a genetic trait; the rest are (Environmental and lifestyle).

Pesticides and Environmental Exposure

Environmental, Lifestyle Alzheimer’s can mean that humans get diseases through environmental factors and exposure. It can also mean that the diseases were gotten through lifestyle. Lifestyle is the way you live your life and what you do to cause or prevent Alzheimer’s. A study done by the British Medical Journal claimed that “Missense mutations in three genes are known to cause atonal dominant forms of early onset Alzheimer’s diseases.

The amyloid precursor protein gene is located on chromosome 21, and genes for presenilin one and presenilin two are located on chromosome 14 and 1.” These are the different genes that the Alzheimer’s trait can be passed down on. The British Health Article did a survey, and they decided that “the 50 or so mutations associated with presenilin one may explain up to half of all cases of early-onset Alzheimer’s disease.” Half of the early cases of Alzheimer’s of the mutations associated with Presenilin 1 conflicts with the theory that only 30 to 40 percent of Alzheimer’s victims get it through genetics.

Conclusion

Alzheimer’s disease occurs when brain cells and their connections degenerate and die, which leads to confusion and memory loss. Over 5.5 million Americans have Alzheimer’s Disease, and there is a 10 percent chance of getting it after turning 65 years old. Alzheimer’s is the sixth leading cause of death in America. Yet in America, we are not as worried about the causes of Alzheimer’s compared to our concern with other diseases, such as cancer.

However, Alzheimer’s Disease is one of the more horrible ways to die, and there needs to be a greater awareness of what causes it to aid in reducing a person’s chances of falling victim to this horrible, deadly disease. Most Americans are educated on what can cause/increase the risk of common diseases such as cancer. However, the causes or risk factors of Alzheimer’s Disease are seldom talked about. People need to be educated and aware of the factors that can increase a person’s chances of
getting the horrendous brain-deadening disease, Alzheimer’s.

References

“Still Alice” by Lisa Genova
“The Forgetting: Alzheimer’s: Portrait of an Epidemic” by David Shenk
“On Pluto: Inside the Mind of Alzheimer’s” by Greg O’Brien
“Creating Moments of Joy Along the Alzheimer’s Journey: A Guide for Families and Caregivers” by Jolene Brackey

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