When the Brain Breaks

As can be seen from the chart above, chances are, if we live long enough, we will experience some form of cognitive impairment. The chart also shows that impairment exponentially increases when the brain breaks. Brain related impairments can be especially hard on those that have it and on those who care for them.

The type of cognition impairment has a lot to do with prospects of treatment and recovery. If we know a little about what the brain break is the better the chances of slowing or altering the path of growth of the issue.

Brain facts: 8 Ways The Brain Begins To Break

    •    Amyloid Cascade Hypothesis: Amyloid plaques accumulate between nerve cells and tangled tau structures. In 1907 Dr. Aloysius Alzheimer was one of the first to document the disease. He noted in an autopsy that there was a dramatic shrinkage of the brain and that there was an abnormal deposit around brain nerve cells.

    •    Tau and Tangles: Chemical and structural changes to the tau of brain neurons.

    •    Blood Flow: Any factor that affects the blood flow system in the brain has a significant impact on its function and risk of decline.

    •    Metabolic Disorders: Nearly 35 % of all U.S. adults and 50% of those of age 60 or older are estimated to have health conditions called metabolic syndrome. This is a combination of obesity, high blood pressure, insulin resistance, type two diabetes, or poor lipid profile. Since 2005 researchers have been finding correlations between diabetes and other markers to Alzheimer’s. While these are just markers there is a high probability that they lead to cognitive decline.

    •    Toxic Substances: It is known that neurotoxins such as lead, tetanus toxins (from bacteria), and mercury cause brain damage. There are other everyday chemicals we inadvertently encounter in everyday life that may lead to cognitive decline. More research needs to be done to understand which chemicals can result in brain abnormalities.     

    •    Infections: A Harvard study in 2016 proposed that infections, including mild ones, fire up the immune system in the brain and leave a debris trail that is the hallmark of Alzheimer’s. A hypothesis is now developing among scientists that serious forms of neurodegenerative decline can stem from the body’s reaction to infectious diseases such as Zika, syphilis, rabies and even gum disease.

    •    Head Trauma and Injury: It has been proven now that repeated blows to the head can do lasting damage to the brain. The study of Tony Dorsett’s brain health was the first study that linked multiple concussions to the build up of damage of tau.

    •    Immune system challenges and chronic Infection: for decades have debated the role of inflammation in a diseased brain, but now a burst of new research suggests that inflammation not only adds to disease processes in the brain that cause decline, but it also ignites those processes in the first place. A 2019 study out of John Hopkins showed that chronic inflammation at midlife is linked to later cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s. 

So What:

·         Obviously, from the above, we can see that Alzheimer’s and cognitive decline or dementia are not the same. What we are observing above are the root causes. So to get to the root of the problem we need to know which of the above is happening and even if there are multiple causes. All of the above brain breaks have different therapeutics and in a few cases medicines to assist. Cognitive decline treatment is then an ongoing search process that takes discovery. Hopefully that search will get results in time.