The brain is one of the important organs in the body, whose function is to coordinate how we function as humans, from how we relate with others to how we coordinate and execute our daily activities and chores. But often, we encounter some challenges as humans in the capacity at which the brain does not operate to its required standards. Some of the incidences when we forget are normal, but when the situations progress, then it raises an alarm. The incidence at which people forget things will progress into Alzheimer disease (AD). Alzheimer disease is a condition where there is progressive brain failure due to the accumulation of the toxic proteins in the brain cells called beta amyloid and tau (Gage, 2015). Over the years’ research details an increase in cases of Alzheimer disease. This paper explores the causes of the rise in cases of Alzheimer Disease.
There are various causes of an increase in incidences of Alzheimer disease. First, anti-anxiety medication is one of the many contributors to the current alarming statistics of the disease. Anxiety refers to a situation expressed by a feeling of unease for example worrying or fear. Anxiety cases can increase from a level of moderate to severe. Over the last years, cases of people succumbing to the condition have increased exponentially. There is too much pressure in the world that makes people suffer from feelings of anxiety. Currently the younger people also suffer from this condition, for example, students often worry about sitting for an exam or facing an interview panel. During such a situation, anxiety can be referred to as normal. However, there are situations where people find it hard to control their emotions or worries. When it reaches such a situation, worrying starts to affect their daily lives with symptoms such as panic disorder, phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and social anxiety disorder or phobia (Gage, 2015). When it gets to this level, people seek help from their counselors or therapist for medication to reduce the level of worries. Often, they will be prescribed with anti-anxiety medication.
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There are two forms of treating AD; cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and medication, with most individuals choosing medication. The rate at which people are prescribed anti-anxiety medication is increasing over the years. Among the dominating population are the women. The middle population, 35-39 years are also reported to be consuming anti-anxiety medication too. Reported to be the most consumed medications are Ativan, Xanax, Valium and Klonopin, and benzodiazepine. Research highlight that the more consumption of these medications is linked with cases of increased dementia and Alzheimer disease (Gage, 2015). Thus, it will be paramount to summarize that increased cases Alzheimer disease are linked with increased consumption of anti-anxiety medication over the years.
A case-control study was carried by Gage et al. (2014) to identify the association of Alzheimer disease and use of anti-anxiety medication. The sample study involved random matched 1796 participants diagnosed with Alzheimer disease and 7184 controls for a period of up to 6 years. The results from the study highlight 95% confidence interval use of benzodiazepine is associated with increased Alzheimer risk. There was no association found on the cumulative dose but the exposure density increased the strength of association. Thus, the stronger association observed on long-term exposure is associated with increased cases of dementia.
Secondly, Alzheimer disease is caused by lack of physical exercise by many people in the modern day. There are many reasons as to why exercising is beneficial to the body. Among the benefits of exercising include reducing the odds of increased risk of developing heart disease, diabetes, and stroke. Other people exercise to lose weight, prevent or reduce depression or lower blood pressure. Regardless of these benefits most people still do not exercise. With changes in the way people live, people have been reduced to agents susceptible to many risky diseases. The brain is one organ that controls and coordinates most of the body functions. Exercise impact to the brain includes improved circulation of blood and oxygen to the brain, learning skills, memory retention, and more brain cells are regenerated (Cordulla, 2015).
Exercising for 30 to 60 minutes a day have been linked to impact issues regarding Alzheimer disease susceptible individuals. It also aids in sharp thinking and learning skills (Cordulla, 2015). Exercise also improves reasoning, judgment and cognitive function for those experiencing mild Alzheimer disease. It has also been associated with delaying Alzheimer disease for those people at risk. With the above benefits, it will be ignorant not to recognize the benefits of exercising towards reducing cases of Alzheimer disease. Thus, to be abreast with the topic, the lack of the current generation not recognizing the importance of exercise has led to the rise of cases of Alzheimer disease.
Studies have also shown that lack of enough sleep leads to a higher likelihood of developing Alzheimer disease. Wakefulness is a serious public health concern; and with increased globalization, more people are faced with issues of not having proper and enough sleep. It is estimated that 50- 70 million people in the United States have sleep or wakefulness disorder. This issue affects the way they carry out their daily functions, for example, driving. Most people ignore the importance of sleep with the quest of finding the worldly resources. Sleep just like diet and exercise is very important when it comes to living a healthily- fulfilled life (Xie et al 2013). Lack of sleep has been linked with a lot of health problems, for example, cognitive dysfunction, stress, depression, diabetes, and weight gain. New insight into the research is that lack of sleep may also be linked to Alzheimer disease.
According to research by Xie et al. (2013), it was highlighted that not having a quality sleep can lead to the great accumulation of meta-toxins in the brain. The researchers utilized the two-photon microscopy to highlight how the brain functions in its clean system through the coined term “glymphatic system”. People who get quality sleep were shown to have a good coordinating system. The scrubbing process utilized by the brain was important in highlighting how the glial cells wash away toxic cells. Toxins accumulation in the brain is one of the leading causes of Alzheimer disease. Sleep is the factor that makes the cleaning system works effectively. With people not having a quality sleep then the cleaning system will not function properly. Due to nature of people’s work and diverse time utilization then sleep will become an issue thus causes an increase in the cases of Alzheimer disease.
Ingesting food and drinks that contain Aluminum is also linked to high cases of the Alzheimer in the recent days, however, this has been a controversial topic for a long time. Most people regard aluminum as only a light silver metallic metal that is used to make pots, planes, among other tools. The other form of aluminum is nonmetallic which makes up eight percent of the earth’s surface. In the environment, aluminum is found naturally everywhere. It is also found naturally in foods, drinking water, and some municipalities also add it water as a supplement (Carson, Vanderhost & Koenig, 2015). It is also added to manufactured food sold in supermarkets. Some cosmetics also contain aluminum elements. Aluminum is also present in the air we breathe in the form of dry smoke and sprays. But in some incidences, they introduce the metal element in excess to a situation that it poses potential harm to susceptible humans.
According to Carson, Vanderhost & Koenig (2015), the microwave community has been known to consume too much of the frozen food products containing large amounts of aluminum. This population is often lazy to cook, or at times they find it expensive to purchase healthy organic foods. In some communities, those reported to have a high content of aluminum in their brain due to aluminum deposition have been linked with mild Alzheimer disease. Research highlights the causative agent as the presence of high aluminum content in the water that they drink. Progressive accumulation of aluminum has also been seen among people with old age. Thus, individuals who develop Alzheimer disease in the late sixties have shown to have a high level of aluminum in their brain. Thus, it can be concluded that progressive consumption of aluminum containing processed food products is among the reasons that have contributed to increasing in cases of Alzheimer disease (Carson, Vanderhost & Koenig, 2015).
On the other hand, notably, diabetes has become a serious public health issue. Adults are now being diagnosed at a high rate of diabetes. The relationship between diabetes and Alzheimer disease lies in the effect of glucose or sugar when it reaches the brain. Diabetes can affect several body organs including the brain a situation not widely known. When diabetes affects the brain, an individual suffers from impaired blood vessels. In a different avenue, Alzheimer can also be expressed as late type 2 diabetes. People who have type 2 diabetes are known to produce a lot of insulin. When the extra insulin finds its way to the brain, it disrupts the normal functioning of the brain. In such a circumstance, the insulin disrupts brain chemistry ultimately leading to toxin accumulation that poison the brain cells (Akomolafe et al. 2006). The existing defining relationship lies in the presence of the protein, amyloid.
Thus, from the above excerpt, it all boils down to the type of lifestyle that people are currently living. Those who have type 2 diabetes have no adjustment to the type of lifestyle that they live. Maintaining a healthy body weight has proved to be challenging. Individuals are becoming obese due to consumption of manufactured products, too many sugary products and not eating a healthy diet (Akomolafe et al. 2006). Smoking tobacco is also known to increase the rate of diabetes. Smoking is now a lifestyle for the current generation as part of reaching luxury levels. Not exercising has also been linked with diabetes. A sedentary lifestyle does not allow an individual to set out 30 minutes of their time towards regular, moderate or intense activity. Hence, people need to be taught the importance of eating healthy, maintaining a healthy body weight, managing cholesterol, exercising, quit smoking and managing blood pressure as part of managing diabetes so as to reduce cases of AD.
Further, studies highlight that older person who reports to being lonely are likely to develop Alzheimer disease. Loneliness may be defined to as negative feelings that are brought about by a lack of communication, contact or companionship from others (Cordulla, 2015). Feeling lonely is not restricted to a certain age, but older people are vulnerable to feelings of loneliness. When old age kicks in, so does the retirement age. The routine of getting out of work and not being in contact with colleagues is a resultant effect of loneliness.
Older people also suffer from loneliness when they lose their lifetime companions and friends. Some locations that the old individuals live are very secluded and might be another reason to develop loneliness. People who are lonely register a positive relationship with cases of Alzheimer disease since the condition leads to depression and start to raise the amyloid protein levels (Cordulla, 2015). Unlike before where most people were not left by their loved ones but became part of their sons and daughters’ lives, nowadays sons and daughters’ dessert their parents when they grow old and travel to cities away from their homes leaving their parents alone and then depression kicks in. This effect then contributes to cases of AD.
Lastly, young adults who experience multiple severe injuries are highlighted to experience high cases of Alzheimer disease (Cordulla, 2015). This is because the injury that the head succumbs to is enough to lead to the accumulation of toxins in the head. Due to these turn of events, the brain’s ability to get rid of the toxins is inhibited leading to accumulation of amyloid proteins. Nowadays, a lot of people engage in high adrenaline activities that are often very risky. At times these activities are demanding and even pose risky situations for the head and the brain. This can be summed to be one of the contributing factors towards high cases of Alzheimer disease.
Annotated Bibliography
Akomolafe, A. et al. (2006) Diabetes Mellitus and Risk of Developing Alzheimer Disease: Results from the Framingham Study. Arch Neurol, 63 (11), 1551-1555.
The objective of the study was to compare the risk of developing AD among people with diabetes mellitus and those without. It involved cohort participants, 2210 persons that were dementia free and aged 70 years. From the research, the results highlighted that those with type 2 diabetes had a direct decline in their cognitive function. The article outlines insulin level with increased deposition of amyloid proteins in the brain. The research was important in developing insights on what are among the causative increase of cases of AD in the last years. Through the article, I was able to outline, via the literature review, what are among the causative reasons for developing diabetes and through that define why there is an increase in cases of AD.
Carson, V.B., Vanderhost, K. & Koenig, H.G. (2015) Care Giving for Alzheimer’s disease: A Compassionate Guide for Clinicians and Loved Ones . Springer
This scholarly source provides insights regarding Alzheimer disease and ingestion of aluminum-containing products. The book talks on matters of aluminum, what constitutes aluminum and what are the different situations that people are exposed to aluminum. From the book, aluminum is present in manufactured foods, the air we breathe and the water we drink. It also provides insights as to what are the leading causes of aluminum ingestion by people. This source was important as it provided details on why there is a rising cause of Alzheimer disease among people who ingest aluminum. However, I disagree with the source as it did not highlight what level of aluminum congestion is bad for the brain to the level that it causes AD.
Cordula, D.M. (2015) Psychological Studies of The Individuals Changing Perspectives in Alzheimer Disease . IGI Global
Cordulla’s book provides a comprehensive guide towards issues of lack of exercising, cases of experiencing head injury and loneliness as reasons for people developing Alzheimer disease. The book also provides anecdotal information regarding why most professional players at a later stage of their lives start to experience cases not remember some things. This poses as the background information for the research topic. The author details some of the research done concerning why most players are at risk of developing AD with damage to their hypothalamus capacity of executing daily functions being impaired. The book also provides sufficient information as to why people not exercising is the reason for them being at risk of developing AD. The scholarly source has been important as it helped with developing my point of view as the lack of exercising and cases of head injury are among the causes of the increase of Alzheimer disease.
Gage, S.B. (2015) Benzodiazepine use and risk of Alzheimer disease. BMJ, 35(1), 1-3
The objective of the study was to investigate the relation between exposure to benzodiazepines and the risk of Alzheimer disease. The study entailed 1796 people suffering from anxiety issues and on anti-medication medication of benzodiazepines. The results were able to highlight that consumption of benzodiazepines as anti-anxiety medication had a direct relation with Alzheimer disease. The journal provided insights regarding why most people are nowadays at risk of AD with those on medication for a longer period being the susceptible group. The article was a good read and resourceful for the provision of data concerning the topic.
Xie, L. et al. (2013) Sleep Deprives Metabolite Clearance of the Adult Brain. Science, 342 (6156), 373-7
This article provides a clear definition of the importance of sleep towards the clearing of metabolites in the brain. Sleep conservation across animal species have shown to be vital for the brain. The researcher used real-time assessment of two-photon imaging device on live mice. The mice were injected with anesthesia to induce sleep. There was a 60% increase in the interstitial space showing the increase in the speed at which amyloid proteins were released. Thus, the restorative function of sleep can be seen where amyloid proteins were released from the brain of the mice. This source was important as it was able to highlight how sleep deprived individuals are the ones who are likely to suffer from Alzheimer disease which contributes to the increase in cases of AD.
References
Akomolafe, A. et al. (2006) Diabetes Mellitus and Risk of Developing Alzheimer Disease: Results from the Framingham Study. Arch Neurol , 63 (11), 1551-1555.
Carson, V.B., Vanderhost, K. & Koenig, H.G. (2015) Care Giving for Alzheimer’s disease: A Compassionate Guide for Clinicians and Loved Ones . Springer
Cordula, D.M. (2015) Psychological Studies of The Individuals Changing Perspectives in Alzheimer Disease . IGI Global
Gage, S.B. (2015) Benzodiazepine use and risk of Alzheimer disease. BMJ , 35(1), 1-3
Xie, L. et al. (2013) Sleep Deprives Metabolite Clearance of the Adult Brain. Science , 342 (6156), 373-7
