How Stress and the Body's Immune Response May Lead to Alzheimer's Disease

This is a really important article about the roles stress (and the attendant emotions of anxiety and depression) play in the development of Alzheimer's Disease. We've known higher incidents of anxiety and depression are associated with dementia for decades. And I've talked about it on this blog a lot. What we haven't understood is the physical aspects of this connection (the immune system response) and whether there is actual cause and effect. Now science is saying there is.

There's a lot to unpack in this article which is why I recommend clicking on the link. My takeaway, however, is that Alzheimer's disease involves multiple systems in the body that work hand in hand to create the conditions that lead to dementia. Chronic emotional states play a BIG role, especially when not mitigated by exercise and social involvement. None of this has been unknown. The news is that now that there is scientific proof maybe we can get more effective non-pharmaceutical treatments to address these factors in addition to whatever medicines can help soothe people and control the symptoms.

Correcting Andrew Weil's Report on Risk of Alzheimer's Disease and Stress in Women

I really wanted to write directly to him on this one, but I could not find a way to do that without offering up my email address to endless amounts of spam.

Take a look at this article. It's about an important study about how worry and stress DOUBLES the risk of developing Alzheimer's Disease in women. http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/QAA401550/Worrying-About-Alzheimers.html

In the last paragraph Dr. Weil said "Please bear in mind that in this study "twice the risk" is relative to the normal risk of developing Alzheimer's. Here's what relative risk means: assume that the normal risk is one in 100 people. Double the risk means that two of 100 people will develop the disease and the other 98 will not."

Fine, but 1 in 6 people in the U.S. have Alzheimer's Disease right now (about 14%) and the percentage rises as people age to 1 in 3 people getting the disease by the time they die (about 33%). Correct me if my math is wrong (that happens) but I believe if you double the risk you will get numbers ranging from 28% for the population as a whole and rising to 66% as people get older. That's a very significant statistic!

It makes a very big difference as people progress through their life cycle, and taking steps to shift these patterns in your life when you are still young, could make a major difference for your life as you age!