5 ms·

But exercise does: https://www.news-medical.net/news/20160324/Exercise-slows-down-cognitive-decline-in-older-adults.aspx https://www.news-medical.net/news/20160

• hndamien 8y ago
  My armchair analysis suspects that it is chemicals like cortisol will degrade the brain over time, while dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin will help preserve it. So stress and anxiety bad, exercise good.
  • my_usernam3 8y ago
    Completely off topic, but I appreciate you properly citing your source. I hate when people make absolute claims off no factual evidence. Even just "I heard ______ " is a perfectly acceptable comment imo.
    • hndamien 8y ago
      I am presuming that you are not being sarcastic. I am being totally transparent that this is nothing more than an internal hunch based on some very amateur time investment is hardly related fields. Literally nothing worth taking note of except to spur conversation from somebody who may know more. That said, boldy professing incorrectly seems to spur more good debate on the Internet than boldy professing my claim is not backed by anything.
  • pas 8y ago
    cortisol? why not glutamate ? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excitotoxicity https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excitotoxicity
    • hndamien 8y ago
      Good point. Also stress related among many other contributors.
• mjfl 8y ago
  I got my genes sequenced recently and it turns out I have a mutant gene that predisposes me to Alzheimers - APOE e4. it's a cholesterol shuttling gene! Very important to keep low fat, it effects your entire body.
  • stochastic_monk 8y ago
    I hadn’t heard that body fat composition affected Alzheimer’s risk. Out of curiosity, do you have a reference?
    • ekianjo 8y ago
      Body fat is a risk for multiple disease. The general idea is that whenever viruses enter the adipose tissue they are hard to reach by the immune system. We dont really understand yet what causes Alzheimer but now there is suspicion of a viral link.
      • whatshisface 8y ago
        There is another hypothesis making the rounds that obesity is linked to chronic metabolic stress and eventual damage (so far uncontroversial), which is linked to many separate diseases.
      • jodrellblank 8y ago
        internet articles point fingers at long term insulin resistance, e.g. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/diagnosis-diet/201609/avoiding-alzheimer-s-disease-could-be-easier-you-think?collection=1095953 https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/diagnosis-diet/20160... the receptors responsible for escorting insulin across the blood-brain barrier can become resistant to insulin, restricting the amount of insulin allowed into the brain. While most brain cells don’t require insulin in order to absorb glucose, they do require insulin in order to process glucose. [..] Despite swimming in a sea of glucose, brain cells in people with insulin resistance literally begin starving to death. [..] Which brain cells go first? The hippocampus is the brain's memory center. Hippocampal cells require so much energy to do their important work that they often need extra boosts of glucose. While insulin is not required to let a normal amount of glucose into the hippocampus, these special glucose surges do require insulin, making the hippocampus particularly sensitive to insulin deficits. This explains why declining memory is one of the earliest signs of Alzheimer’s, despite the fact that Alzheimer’s Disease eventually destroys the whole brain. researchers have discovered that Alzheimer’s Disease is preceded by DECADES of gradually worsening glucose hypometabolism. 2012 study showed that a low-carbohydrate high-fat diet improved memory in people with “Mild Cognitive Impairment” (Pre-Alzheimer’s Disease) in only six weeks. https://coconutketones.com/ https://coconutketones.com/ - Dr Mary Newport's work on coconut oil and low carb diet with her husband with early onset alzheimers and dementia, intended to provide an alternative ketone source of fuel for the brain instead of glucose. Grain and sugar elimination: that’s huge, because it’s anti-inflammatory. A big driver of cognitive decline and dementia is inflammation. By going grain-free sugar-free we drop inflammation dramatically. If you were to track inflammatory measures like C-reactive protein or interleukin-6 or tumor necrosis factor (TNFα) or other measures, you would see them drop precipitously, as inflammation recedes, and risk for Alzheimer’s with it. - https://www.wheatbellyblog.com/2017/11/preventing-cognitive-decline-dementia/ https://www.wheatbellyblog.com/2017/11/preventing-cognitive-...
• gpvos 8y ago
  There were some research results a few years ago that indicated that dancing does that very well (and particularly the role of follower in partner dancing, because you have to react quickly to small cues). Don't have a link ready, sorry. I'd be curious if that has been reproduced yet.
  • a_wild_dandan 8y ago
    Exercise is most effective in slowing mental decline when done consistently. I'd wager that's why dancing is so efficacious -- you're mixing vigorous exercise with fun, and folks are more likely to consistently exercise when it's fun.
• gus_massa 8y ago
  In this study, they detect a correlation between exercise and mental ability, but it is not clear which one is the cause and which one is the effect. Perhaps people with very advanced mental decline can't follow any class of exercise. >> Our results suggest that moderate to intense exercise may help older people delay aging of the brain, but more research from randomized clinical trials comparing exercise programs to more sedentary activity is needed to confirm these results.
  • 0xcde4c3db 8y ago
    It could also be that factors present earlier in life influence exercise habits and cognitive decline on different time scales. For example, it's not a huge leap to imagine that some inborn deficit in neurotransmitter function could promote both of these outcomes without necessarily leading to any clinical diagnosis.
• tracker1 8y ago
  I'd be curious as to any correlation with sugar and/or refined oil intake.