5 ms·

Specifically, those with preclinical Alzheimer's tended to drive more slowly, make abrupt changes, travel less at night, and logged fewer miles overall, for exa

Specifically, those with preclinical Alzheimer's tended to drive more slowly, make abrupt changes, travel less at night, and logged fewer miles overall, for example. They also visited a smaller variety of destinations when driving, sticking to slightly more confined routes. Isn’t this pretty much everyone as they get older? Who hasn’t seem these traits in older relatives? Everyone I know who gets older tends to drive less at night because as you get old your eyesight gets worse —- particularly if you’ve had cataract surgery, which are people who are in the study / risk group. Unless I missed a more nuanced point this article reads like “old age is a good predictor of Alzheimer’s.”

WhompingWindows 5y ago
I think the quote ties in with what else we know about Alzheimers: it tends to develop in those with smaller social circles, in those who experience less novelty and less healthy lifestyles. If the person is out in society learning a new language, meeting new people, learning a new instrument, exercising their minds' regenerative capacities, that's a great "counter" to aging. If they're sitting at home, not driving anywhere, watching cable news all day, that's a recipe for rutted-grooves of thought and deterioration of the mind.
- actually_a_dog 5y ago
  I tend to drive relatively little, visit fairly few distinct places, and generally take the same route each time I visit them. I'm also not a huge fan of night driving. I don't think I drive particularly slowly or make too many abrupt changes (I've never had an accident involving another car, am never the slowest one on the freeway, and have never had a complaint from any of my passengers). The interesting part for me here is that these behaviors do, in fact, reflect a neurological issue I have with visual/spatial processing. In a nutshell, I get lost easily, because it takes me much more time to associate visual landmarks with a travel route than the typical human. I suspect my dog has a far, far better sense of direction than do I. :P I'm not even close to old enough to have preclinical signs of Alzheimer's, yet, but I shall have to remember to remind my doctors of my visual-spatial issues in a few decades when I am.
- Kluny 5y ago
  Got a bit of a victim-blamey vibe here. Intuitively it makes sense that if you're more active and social, you don't get Alzheimer's - but it's also pretty tough to separate correlation and causation. Does being shut-in cause Alzheimer's, or do people end up being shut-ins because of Alzheimer's? Intuition is often wrong.
KingMachiavelli 5y ago
Age was another input into the model. However, it's no surprise that the signs of aging correlate strongly with Alzheimer's. While one 70 year old in very good mental/physical health may be very active including driving, another may seem and "act" a lot older. In particular, Driving from point A to point B depends on a certain kind of memory that degrades quickly in Alzheimer's. Forgetting names is one thing but forgetting whole places is another. * Making abrupt changes: perhaps they are suddenly recalling something they need to do like turn onto a certain street? Not quite sure. * Driving at night removes a lot of visual cues putting an even larger emphasis on memory. * Longer travels & having more destinations both depend on memory so that one makes sense.
cogman10 5y ago
> particularly if you’ve had cataract surgery Cataract surgery should improve night vision. Those with cataracts generally have much worse night vision because their vision is clouded. If night vision is worse, it could indicate that the person needs a follow up with their eye surgeon and possibly follow up surgery to adjust the IOL.
01100011 5y ago
Personally, my processing speed and reaction time fell off a cliff in my early 40s. I used to be a more aggressive driver but had to back off because I can't handle the flood of information now. It's easy to overlook things and miss objects and cars so I have to check twice.
- neuralRiot 5y ago
  Interesting, I’m certainly older than that but i feel i can still handle trafic pretty well but i drive slower because i stopped giving a crap if i get late somewhere or i get out earlier and i’m less aggressive because I realize it’s pointless. If that’s getting old i’m happy with it.
- bsder 5y ago
  > It's easy to overlook things and miss objects and cars so I have to check twice. How about: "You weren't as good as you thought, and you just missed it when you were younger." If you look at driving accidents, they fall continuously until you are about 30. And they don't start rising again until you are about 75-80.

WhompingWindows 5y ago

I think the quote ties in with what else we know about Alzheimers: it tends to develop in those with smaller social circles, in those who experience less novelty and less healthy lifestyles. If the person is out in society learning a new language, meeting new people, learning a new instrument, exercising their minds' regenerative capacities, that's a great "counter" to aging. If they're sitting at home, not driving anywhere, watching cable news all day, that's a recipe for rutted-grooves of thought and deterioration of the mind.

actually_a_dog 5y ago
I tend to drive relatively little, visit fairly few distinct places, and generally take the same route each time I visit them. I'm also not a huge fan of night driving. I don't think I drive particularly slowly or make too many abrupt changes (I've never had an accident involving another car, am never the slowest one on the freeway, and have never had a complaint from any of my passengers). The interesting part for me here is that these behaviors do, in fact, reflect a neurological issue I have with visual/spatial processing. In a nutshell, I get lost easily, because it takes me much more time to associate visual landmarks with a travel route than the typical human. I suspect my dog has a far, far better sense of direction than do I. :P I'm not even close to old enough to have preclinical signs of Alzheimer's, yet, but I shall have to remember to remind my doctors of my visual-spatial issues in a few decades when I am.
Kluny 5y ago
Got a bit of a victim-blamey vibe here. Intuitively it makes sense that if you're more active and social, you don't get Alzheimer's - but it's also pretty tough to separate correlation and causation. Does being shut-in cause Alzheimer's, or do people end up being shut-ins because of Alzheimer's? Intuition is often wrong.

KingMachiavelli 5y ago

Age was another input into the model. However, it's no surprise that the signs of aging correlate strongly with Alzheimer's. While one 70 year old in very good mental/physical health may be very active including driving, another may seem and "act" a lot older. In particular, Driving from point A to point B depends on a certain kind of memory that degrades quickly in Alzheimer's. Forgetting names is one thing but forgetting whole places is another. * Making abrupt changes: perhaps they are suddenly recalling something they need to do like turn onto a certain street? Not quite sure. * Driving at night removes a lot of visual cues putting an even larger emphasis on memory. * Longer travels & having more destinations both depend on memory so that one makes sense.

cogman10 5y ago

> particularly if you’ve had cataract surgery Cataract surgery should improve night vision. Those with cataracts generally have much worse night vision because their vision is clouded. If night vision is worse, it could indicate that the person needs a follow up with their eye surgeon and possibly follow up surgery to adjust the IOL.

01100011 5y ago

Personally, my processing speed and reaction time fell off a cliff in my early 40s. I used to be a more aggressive driver but had to back off because I can't handle the flood of information now. It's easy to overlook things and miss objects and cars so I have to check twice.

neuralRiot 5y ago
Interesting, I’m certainly older than that but i feel i can still handle trafic pretty well but i drive slower because i stopped giving a crap if i get late somewhere or i get out earlier and i’m less aggressive because I realize it’s pointless. If that’s getting old i’m happy with it.
bsder 5y ago
> It's easy to overlook things and miss objects and cars so I have to check twice. How about: "You weren't as good as you thought, and you just missed it when you were younger." If you look at driving accidents, they fall continuously until you are about 30. And they don't start rising again until you are about 75-80.