What evidence is there that Alzheimer's disease can be affected by lifestyle choices, such as diet, exercise, smoking, and alcohol intake?
Introduction
Alzheimer's disease is the most common kind of dementia with characteristics like the collection of two types of protein in the human brain, which is known as plagues or amyloid-beta and tangles or the tau. According to Barnard et al., (2014) the illness ultimately destroys the brain cells and claims the lives of the victims. The Alzheimer's disease is affected by different unhealthy lifestyle choices like smoking, the intake of poor diet, and failure to exercise (Kuźma et al., 2018). Different scholars have performed research concerning the manner through which lifestyle-based decisions influence Alzheimer's disease. This essay seeks to explore the proof that Alzheimer's disease is likely to be affected by lifestyle choices; like exercise, diet, smoking and the intake of alcohol.
Alzheimer's disease
This disease entails the death of brain cells. The genes determining if a person will have Alzheimer’s are associated with the production of amyloid, which cause the particular disease. As articulated by Sperling, Mormino, and Johnson, (2014), in 99% cases, tau and amyloid are related with Alzheimer’s illness, although other factors might contribute to the emergence of signs, like vascular threats, lifestyle, and inflammation of the person’s brain (MacDonald et al., 2015). Among the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease are; poor planning of problems, performing tasks in inefficient order, personality and mood changes, confusion, and memory loss. A person suffering from Alzheimer disease cannot live independently without outside care because the illness affects one’s ability to do daily activities (Alzheimer's Association, 2013). The most common form of Alzheimer’s illness is the late-onset Alzheimer, which is diagnosed when a person is aged 65 or more.
Evidence
The most appropriate evidence of recognizing the risk factors of Alzheimer’s disease is based on the performance of clinical investigations (Boyle et al., 2015). During the clinical trials, the researchers look at the incidences within a period of time with the individuals in the trials being made to adopt diverse behaviors like different diets. So far, evidence proposes that some healthy habits lead to the rise in the Alzheimer’s cases. According to the argument put forth by Age UK, lifestyle is accountable for approximately 76% of the transformations in the aging of the human brain (Reijs et al., 2017). Therefore, the major positive lifestyle changes have the likelihood to eliminate the threat of growth of Alzheimer’s illness by as high as 36% (Li et al., 2015). Furthermore, among the main actions that people can engage in while focusing on maintaining brain health comprise of; moderate drinking, not smoking, Mediterranean diet, and physical exercise.
Diet; A Mediterranean diet is the most recommended diet while avoiding the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. According to Barnard et al., (2014), the intake of a Mediterranean diet comprising of monounsaturated fatty acid, whole grain, fruit, and high vegetable is more linked to a minimal cognitive decline in four to eleven years and less risk of Alzheimer's illness. Other contents of this diet are; red meat just sparingly, balanced amount of red wine, dairy, eggs, poultry in moderate amounts, fish, legumes, nuts, and olive oil (Lin et al., 2017). When the diet contains too much saturated fat, it is considered to be poor because it causes the increment of cholesterol and makes the arteries to narrow down and affect the brain. As identified by Clare et al., (2017), the increment of good cholesterol and the reduction of the bad cholesterol help in protecting one’s body tissue. As argued by Reijs et al., (2017), the partial adherence to a Mediterranean diet is necessary for slowing down the progression of Alzheimer's and thwarting the illness based on the fact that the majority of people find it hard to completely adhere to the particular diet for the first time.
The intake of the unhealthy diet is likely to impact the individual's risk of getting many illnesses with Alzheimer's disease being one of them. Sperling, Mormino, and Johnson, (2014) emphasize that some people do not eat fruits and vegetable, but normally go for the ready meals from the restaurant. It is very important to eat the healthy diet with the consideration of the necessary portions of vitamins, proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. The healthy diet helps in the reduction of the risk of generating Alzheimer's disease. On the contrary, the increased intake of sugars and food with much fat leads to unhealthy living and the rising risk of developing dementia and specifically Alzheimer’s disease.
Exercise; as argued by Alzheimer's Association, (2013), one of the highly convincing proofs is that lack of engagement in physical exercises lead to the development of Alzheimer’s disease and speedy progression in the individuals with the associated symptoms. Physical inactivity is one of the major lifestyle-based risk factors for the development of Alzheimer's disease. Kuźma et al., (2018) identify that it is mostly recommended for people to engage in 30 minutes of balanced and vigorous aerobic physical exercise for three or more days every week. Besides, as realized by Kuźma et al., (2018), failure to frequently take part in physical activities is related to increased rates of Alzheimer’s illness. Nonetheless, engagement in productive activities like gardening is associated with minimal cases of Alzheimer’s disease. Moreover, Alzheimer's Association, (2013) recognizes that the moment people engage in household maintenance activities, they tend to live in efficient cognitive status. Indeed, physical activities are linked to better cognitive nature of a person. As postulated by Reijs et al., (2017), as people minimally engage in cognitive activities, they tend to be at high risk of Alzheimer’s illness. Being physically inactive has a direct impact on the function and structure of the human brain. Based on some studies, physical exercises are significantly linked to the risk of Alzheimer’s disease among women, as compared to men. Thus, failure to be involved in physical exercises increases the risk of being attacked by Alzheimer’s disease.
According to the Age UK, diet in collaboration with exercise assist in lessening Alzheimer risk while one's engagement in some healthy activities helps in the reduction of risk of Alzheimer's disease by 36% (Kuźma et al., 2018). Through some clinical trials, the charity recognizes that physical exercises like balance or resistance or aerobic activity are the most successful method of eliminating some cognitive decline as people age healthy and minimize the risk of generating Alzheimer's illness. Some researchers suggest that being involved in physical exercise for three to five times per week within thirty minutes to one hour is advantageous in having better cognitive status. The maintenance of a healthy diet and efficient weight go hand in hand and they help in the reduction of the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Regular and sensible physical exercise is one of the most efficient methods of minimizing the risk of Alzheimer’s disease because of the improved mental wellbeing. Among the recommended activities that people should engage in to avoid being attacked by Alzheimer’s disease are; dancing, swimming, cycling, and walking. According to Li et al., (2015) those people who avoid walking and are always driving themselves to work and using lift rather than stares, they tend to be at high risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease later in their lives.
Smoking; there are increased cases of Alzheimer’s illness among the present smokers as compared to the incidences of individuals who have never smoked. As identified by Sperling, Mormino, and Johnson, (2014), smoking significantly raises the risk of a person’s development of Alzheimer’s disease later in his or her life. If a person has been smoking, it is necessary for him or her to stop the behavior sooner. The reason is that quitting smoking benefits a person’s overall health and might minimize the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease (Li et al., 2015). However, if a person is a heavy smoker and fails to quit from the habit, he may be at high risk of getting dementia, especially Alzheimer’s disease as the main form of the illness because of brain damage that results from the tobacco.
Alcohol intake; as identified by Alzheimer's Association, (2013) low to moderate alcohol intake and the choice of abstaining from smoking is related to a reduced threat of Alzheimer's disease. Drinking of alcohol should be done in moderation and in a way that enables a person to be responsible for his life. Besides, smoking of tobacco has a harmful influence on the blood vessels located in the brain. As found out by Vemuri et al., (2017), heavy drinking is associated with Alzheimer’s disease and causes the death of brain tissue, specifically in the segments of the brain capable of processing and memory and interpretation of the visual data. It is clear that increased intake of alcohol affects a person's sleep pattern and this highly contributes to the attack by Alzheimer's disease, as it is related to the greater amyloid collection in the brain. Alzheimer's Association, (2013) recommends that a person should be sleeping for seven to eight hours. Also, Reijs et al., (2017) argue that if a person can manage to drink few units of alcohol every week, this helps in the reduction of the threat of Alzheimer’s as one of the major forms of dementia due to the fact that it assists in retaining the heart healthy. The moment a person drinks beyond the NHS recommended amounts of alcohol; this puts that individual at risk of suffering from Alzheimer’s illness because of the alcohol-based brain destruction (Li et al., 2015).
Conclusion
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia and is associated with the death of brain cells. The illness is influenced by lifestyle choices such as smoking and intake of alcohol, poor diet, and failure to engage in physical exercise. The risk of Alzheimer disease is low in people who engage in healthy behaviors in their lives. Being physically active, the intake of a healthy diet, avoiding smoking, and reduced alcohol drinking of avoiding drinking alcohol helps people to be at reduced risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.
References
Alzheimer's Association. (2013). 2013 Alzheimer's disease facts and figures. Alzheimer's " Dementia, 9(2), 208-245.
Barnard, N. D., Bush, A. I., Ceccarelli, A., Cooper, J., de Jager, C. A., Erickson, K. I., ... " Morris, M. C. (2014). Dietary and lifestyle guidelines for the prevention of Alzheimer's disease. Neurobiology of Aging, 35, S74-S78.
Boyle, C. P., Raji, C. A., Erickson, K. I., Lopez, O. L., Becker, J. T., Gach, H. M., ... " Thompson, P. M. (2015). Physical activity, body mass index, and brain atrophy in Alzheimer's disease. Neurobiology of aging, 36, S194-S202.
Clare, L., Wu, Y. T., Teale, J. C., MacLeod, C., Matthews, F., Brayne, C., ... " CFAS-Wales study team. (2017). Potentially modifiable lifestyle factors, cognitive reserve, and cognitive function in later life: A cross-sectional study. PLoS medicine, 14(3), e1002259.
Kuźma, E., Hannon, E., Zhou, A., Lourida, I., Bethel, A., Levine, D. A., ... " Llewellyn, D. J. (2018). Which Risk Factors Causally Influence Dementia? A Systematic Review of Mendelian Randomization Studies. Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, (Preprint), 1-13.
Li, J. Q., Tan, L., Wang, H. F., Tan, M. S., Tan, L., Xu, W., ... " Yu, J. T. (2015). Risk factors for predicting progression from mild cognitive impairment to Alzheimer’s disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry, jump-2014.
Li, Q. X., Villemagne, V. L., Doecke, J. D., Rembach, A., Sarros, S., Varghese, S., ... " Rumble, R. L. (2015). Alzheimer's disease normative cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers validated in PET amyloid-β characterized subjects from the Australian Imaging, Biomarkers, and Lifestyle (AIBL) study. Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, 48(1), 175-187.
Lin, E., Tsai, S. J., Kuo, P. H., Liu, Y. L., Yang, A. C., " Kao, C. F. (2017). Association and interaction effects of Alzheimer’s disease-associated genes and lifestyle on cognitive aging in older adults in a Taiwanese population. Oncotarget, 8(15), 24077.
MacDonald, J. P., Barnes, D. E., " Middleton, L. E. (2015). Implications of risk factors for Alzheimer's disease in Canada’s Indigenous population. Canadian Geriatrics Journal, 18(3), 152.
Reijs, B. L., Vos, S. J., Soininen, H., Lötjonen, J., Koikkalainen, J., Pikkarainen, M., ... " Freund-Levi, Y. (2017). Association between later life lifestyle factors and Alzheimer’s disease biomarkers in non-demented individuals: A longitudinal descriptive cohort study. Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, 60(4), 1387-1395.
Sperling, R., Mormino, E., " Johnson, K. (2014). The evolution of preclinical Alzheimer’s disease: implications for prevention trials. Neuron, 84(3), 608-622.
Vemuri, P., Knopman, D. S., Lesnick, T. G., Przybelski, S. A., Mielke, M. M., Graff-Radford, J., ... " Machulda, M. M. (2017). Evaluation of amyloid protective factors and Alzheimer disease neurodegeneration protective factors in elderly individuals. JAMA Neurology, 74(6), 718-726.
