12 ms·
Viagra Is Linked to Almost 70% Lower Risk of Alzheimer's
- throwaway67325 5y agoAlzheimer's research has taken a surprising erection.
- oliwarner 5y agoCorrelation not [necessarily] causation! Lots of people suggesting having sex might be a prophylactic but also consider that a lower "sex drive" might also be a factor here. We don't know because we're looking at insurance claim data. You only see links. And only in people with insurance! You have to go much further to show causation.
- pas 5y agodo people who use viagra have a lower sex drive or simply erectile disfunction? after all they go and buy viagra and then do have sex. it's not like they pop viagra to have the urge to have sex, right?
- Cederfjard 5y agoCorrect, it helps with blood flow, not libido. Although of course there could be a psychological component to it.
- agumonkey 5y agoThat's a question I'm deeply interested in. The pre biomechanical aspects of sexuality. I found some niche papers about somatosensory and self/other perceptions but not much.
- altdataseller 5y agoSome even have too high of a sex drive and as a result it slowly makes them less sensitive to normal intercourse.
- Terry_Roll 5y agoWhen is erectile disfunction the result of too much low level body wide disease aka aging, and the histamines are being used by the white blood cells to move through tissue OR not enough histidine in your diet, one of the quickest amino acids into your muscles (it goes straight through the portal shunt) that happens to be a precursor for histamine, and 60mg of histamine will give you a spontaneous erection! Ergo take copious amounts of histidine and get spontaneous erections that you cant control, as if you were going through puberty.
- raducu 5y agoI'd love/hate getting erections that I cannot control. Sex/touch just felt incredible as a teenager, when I could not control neither erections nor orgasm. I remember dancing with this girl in 8th grade, she had a green silk dress cut in the middle and she put her leg between mine, to this day I remember how that felt; once I was able to control erections/orgasm, it felt like I severed 80% of naughty tough sensations somewhere in in my brain. I guess once you can control something, some magic is lost.
- Terry_Roll 5y agoHistidine also plays a part in remyelinating the nervous system, so erections could be viewed as security service type metadata for health of the brain and nervous system and red and white blood cells amongst other things. It can also help keep cataracts at bay.
- kevincox 5y agoNo, but people with a lower sex drive are probably taking less Viagra. The main users of Viagra are likely those with both a sex drive and ED.
- hungryforcodes 5y agoIt definitely has nothing to do with low sex drive. Isn't everyone using it now?
- oliwarner 5y agoBut why? My point is rather that if you don't want sex, you're not going to co-pay for a drug that helps you maintain an erection you've no interest in. If you do think everyone is popping these, I'd suggest this is maybe a side effect of years of being exposed to too much spam and way too much under-regulated pharmaceutical advertising. They're not without unwanted side effects, and again, don't overcome a disinterest in sex.
- hungryforcodes 5y agoNo side effects (for most people, especially using cialis) and fast, easy errections that you can maintain on demand for as long as you want. Mmmm...sounds just like 21st century progress to me.
- johnvaluk 5y agoMen who don't suffer from Alzheimer's disease are far more likely to get their Viagra prescriptions refilled.
- version_five 5y agoThis is very interesting. The article points out twice that there is no evidence it's causal, but does proposr some potential causal mechanisms, all told a pretty reasonable summary of the finding. I'm curious to know if there is any info related to alzheimers and sex drive. The 70% is based on chance developing alzheimers in the next six years, I wonder if there is any relation between a profile who would seek Viagra - I guess that would be people interested in sex, have an available partner, but having trouble - and one who would be less likely to get alzheimers soon.
- galaxyLogic 5y agoHaving a partner might lower the risk of Alzheimer's because having someone to talk to keeps your mind in a working condition. But also, taking Viagra means you are more likely to have sex and having sex might be the thing brain needs for "exercise". I find it somewhat hilarious to think that soon the Covid vaccine infomercials might be extended with "To keep you safe also remember to have sex" .
- lb1lf 5y ago> "To keep you safe also remember to have sex" . -While maintaining a safe distance, mind.
- slavik81 5y agoThe BC Centre for Disease Control has a set of recommendations: http://www.bccdc.ca/health-info/diseases-conditions/covid-19/prevention-risks/covid-19-and-sex http://www.bccdc.ca/health-info/diseases-conditions/covid-19...
- ethbr0 5y agoGod bless those socially liberal Canadians! > * Choose sexual positions that limit face-to-face contact. > * Use barriers, like walls (e.g., glory holes), that allow for sexual contact but prevent close face-to-face contact.
- wsc981 5y agoI'm guessing old people's homes are bound to get a whole lot more interesting!
- aaron695 5y agoViagra might help with altitude sickness, which I'm not sure would be linked to this, but it might help with breaking the idea it's only for erectile dysfunction and cardiovascular problems. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-southkorea-politics-viagra-idUSKBN13I0NE https://www.reuters.com/article/us-southkorea-politics-viagr...
- thereisnospork 5y agoA future where Viagra is prophylactically prescribed... that'll have some interesting social effects to be sure.
- vidarh 5y agoViagra/sildenafil no longer requires a prescription in the UK, so I'm now imagining public health advertising campaigns telling older people to remember their Viagra.
- perth 5y agohttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6036338/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6036338/ Viagra increases testosterone? I wonder if this relates to other things that increase late-life testosterone like red meat (unprocessed)? https://www.alzdiscovery.org/cognitive-vitality/blog/does-eating-meat-increase-dementia-risk https://www.alzdiscovery.org/cognitive-vitality/blog/does-ea... I've always thought about how big of a role testosterone plays in later-life health and I wonder why doctors don't prescribe it to restore testosterone levels to a normal (for a younger person) level to prevent osteoporosis and other hormone-linked diseases. Not saying this conclusion in the article is related to testosterone, but I have to speculate on it.
- JamesBarney 5y agoThey do, but they're reluctant because there is evidence it increases risk of stroke and bad cardiovascular outcomes. And most of the apparent benefits of testosterone look to be more correlational than causational. (except osteoporosis, and sarcopenia)
- stefs 5y agoiirc there also might be problems of (slightly) increased cancer risk. there are some doctors who prescribe test to keep patients test level up later in life, but the increased quality of life might mean a decreased life span and not everyone is willing to take the trade-off. patients willing to try usually just try a few doctors until they find one who does.
- amelius 5y agoMore T is not necessarily a good thing as it might mean that the body has more trouble converting it and make it do its job.
- jinpa_zangpo 5y agoA generation of steroid using bodybuilders shows that the body has no trouble utilizing even very large amounts of testosterone.
- JamesBarney 5y agoMost of the time these correlation studies are bunk. But I'm cautiously optimistic about this one because 1. The effect is huge. 2. Phospodiesterase is heavily expressed in neural and glial cells 3. There are a ton of alzheimers rodent RCTs with positive results.
- swader999 5y agoRed light on your nutsack for ten minutes with wavelengths of 660nm and or 850nm a few times a week is just as effective for the getting old, decreasing boner issues. Another trick is to form a fist and put it between your legs at your knees and squeeze your legs as hard as you can trying to crush your fist. You might feel a slight pop and things should work better after a few seconds of squeezing your fist.
- JamesBarney 5y agoSome expert opinions on the article https://www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-reaction-to-study-identifying-sildenafil-viagra-as-a-candidate-drug-for-alzheimers-disease/ https://www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-reaction-to-study-...
- est31 5y agoQuoting the critical parts of those opinions: > Sildenafil is more often prescribed to wealthy people and low socioeconomic status is associated with higher risk of Alzheimer’s. > There are other possible explanations for these findings; for example, we know that brain changes start decades before dementia symptoms and it is possible that these early Alzheimer’s changes reduce sex drive (thus people wouldn’t ask for a prescription for erectile dysfunction). [...] They did try to control for this by looking into patients with pulmonary hypertension, which is sometimes treated with sildenafil. However, this group did not have a statistically significant decreased risk in Alzheimer’s disease. > people who take sildenafil have less serious cardiovascular damage than those who are taking the other drugs to combat hypertension or diabetes. If cardiovascular damage is a key causal factor in developing Alzheimer’s disease, then these people might anyway be at an advantage compared to people who have to take drugs for hypertension, cardiovascular disease or diabetes. The study tried to control for this, but it is not clear if severity of the different conditions controlled for could be taken into account (those with more severe hypertension are presumably more likely to be taking anti-hypertensive medication such as losartan). Many of the opinions are quite positive though, and praise the high sophistication of the statistical methods.
- d--b 5y agoIs it just me or is there a sub text here that says: “maybe it’s not the drug, maybe a good shag every now and then does it, and viagra consumption is a good proxy for knowing that”?
- yellow_lead 5y agoWell it does get your heart rate up
- ratsforhorses 5y agoSo does masturbation.... could it be the exchange of molecules, a touch of human warmth or that feeling of contentment/happiness which is more important?
- WesolyKubeczek 5y agoNot really, unless you both pile down on one another like logs and wait for an earthquake. Good sex with a person is quite a workout in comparison, maybe you should reevaluate your practices.
- penjelly 5y agowhat? all the parent said is masturbation increases heart rate as well, which is fact. He didnt say it increases heart rate to the same level as intercourse does. Personal attacks are also unnecessary, come on.
- yosito 5y agoAccording to my Garmin watch, sex with my girlfriend only gets my heart rate into the mid 90s, the same as a walk around the block. The significance of that data is up for interpretation, but I'm skeptical that sex is really a significant cardio activity.
- emrevarol 5y ago
- Scoundreller 5y agoWould be interesting to see what the effect with tadalafil is. Sildenafil is rather short acting while tadalafil is much longer acting. Tadalafil is also used in smaller but daily doses as a treatment for benign prostrate hyperplasia, so there should be more data on longer durations of use and effect. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30901259/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30901259/
- james_burden 5y agoI've been taking 5mg tadalafil/day for years. Super common in longevity/bbuilder circles. Lots of positive effects beyond dong gains.
- wellthisisgreat 5y agoInteresting. What kind of positive effects? Also doesn’t tadalafil act for 36 or something like that hours?
- HugoDaniel 5y ago69% is too sexual for the eyes of puritan Americans.
- ralusek 5y agoWithout reading the article, causality check. Is it possible that usage of viagra indicates an interest in/ability to participate in sexual activity which also indicates a level of health and mental acuity that would be less common among those with Alzheimer's?
- dzonga 5y agocrazy how a medicine went from treating heart disease to ed now to treating alzheimer's. wish more drugs were like this these days, but most modern drugs hardly work
- david-gpu 5y agoPresumably the only old drugs still in use are the ones that were particularly effective. Old but ineffective drugs will over time be naturally replaced and forgotten. It's the same sort of reasoning why ageless musical hits are still enjoyed today. The musical hits that aged poorly have been forgotten over time. It's not that old stuff was better, it's that modern stuff hasn't had enough time for the crap to be forgotten.
- amluto 5y agocough phenylephrine. Old, widely used, and most studies suggest that it’s essentially completely useless for its intended purpose.
- tedk-42 5y agoFinally a reason to take Viagra without the taboo.
- baash05 5y agoI find this hard to believe
- andruby 5y agopun intended?
- AltruisticGapHN 5y agoMy hunch is it has to do with the increased bloodflow to the brain -- and not really about sexual function.
- neoncontrails 5y agoLayperson, admittedly, but it wouldn't shock me that a smooth muscle vasodilator affects cognition. It's good to be skeptical of those claims, but I don't think Occam's Razor cleaves so closely to the alternative explanations.
- black_13 5y agoYour access to the drug means you have access to health or consistent healthcare and possibly better diet.
- phantom_oracle 5y agoEvery few days, articles like these keep cropping up with click-bait headlines about preventing all types of diseases in old age. The headlines almost always never match up to the content or even the reality of trying to treat or prevent these many diseases. Another reality is that death, old age(and sickness with it) strikes such fear into people's hearts that they are willing to walk around with perpetual erections to prevent Alzheimer's disease(and the absurdity of my comment is linked to the absurdity of the click-bait title)
- neoncontrails 5y agoIt's a smooth muscle vasodilator. Of course it will increase the blood flow of capillaries in the brain, the question is whether that's a good thing. It's plausible that it has some cognitive benefits — but also, entirely plausible that it might lead to oxidative damage. Without more research, it's impossible to say. Amid so many pseudoscientific headlines it's easy to be cynical, but this seems actually like a good research question to be asking.
- InsomniacL 5y agoI love how a finding in science usually means there are now twice as many questions!
- cblconfederate 5y agoExciting news but that 69% does sound a bit suspicious ("almost 70%" haha)! The link here between vasodilation and neurodegeneration isn't obvious though and it s going to take a lot of searching, but it is an interesting research direction
- threevox 5y agoI don't know if 69% seems suspicious as much as it seems...nice
- johmue 5y agoIt's the third option: I guess we all know it's not the viagra, but I would suggest it's also not the sex but rather what is associated with a lifestyle that includes the potential for sex: a lifestyle with connection, a partner and possibly friends. A bigger social group is pretty tightly related to better health outcomes
- agumonkey 5y agoThe neurological effect of physical intimacy are probably second to none.. surely it triggers a massive positive side effect on your neurons everytime it happens.
- vidarh 5y agoWe don't know any such things. Viagra has effects that could provide a plausible mechanism for a direct causal link. The article in particular points out that it directly interacts with amyloid and tau proteins, that are frequently implicated in Alzheimer's, and that they've explored it's effect on tau in vitro. That of course is not proof of a causal link, but it's enough to justify follow up research.
- q1w2 5y agoViagra use indicates that the person has a partner(s) at an advanced age. This alone implies MANY lifestyle changes. What would be interesting would be a comparison again Cialis (the competitor to Viagra).
- sneak 5y ago> Viagra use indicates that the person has a partner(s) at an advanced age. Or money.
- vidarh 5y agoHence why it requires further research before we can claim causality. My point was simply that assuming we "know" the causal link is something else is also unjustified without further research. Especially given the size of the effect combined with the known interactions between Viagra and Tau proteins. A comparison with Cialis might well be worth it down the line, but I don't see what it'd give before they've established whether or not there's a causal link.
- jjtheblunt 5y agoMisleading title: "Notably, we found that sildenafil use reduced the likelihood of Alzheimer's in individuals with coronary artery disease, hypertension, and type 2 diabetes,..."
- lobocinza 5y agoReading that I think of general improvement on oxygen levels as a side effect which would be a link to Alzheimer.
- andrewclunn 5y agoI had something to say, but now I can't fucking remember...
- narrator 5y agoSeems to be the conventional wisdom on this thread that any counterintuitive medical conclusion should be ignored and ascribed to psychosomatic factors, the placebo effect, or we're just testing for it more.
- phekunde 5y agoMy hypothesis is that this might be indirectly related to the drug. Because sex increases blood circulation to the whole body, including the brain, this circulation helps the brain cells. Taking Viagra regularly for sexual pleasure has this positive side-effect of regular blood flow to the brain, thus reducing the chances of damage to the cells.
- q1w2 5y agoThere are many correlative factors associated with taking viagra. The fact that older people that take viagra have a partner introduces a myriad of lifestyle differences. Being sexual active is another myriad of differences. Of all the studies I've seen recently, this one scream Correlation != Causation.
- BugsHack 5y agoAnd a glass of wine everyday is good for your health, and cigarettes make you relaxed and thin, and pot smoking is not addictive, and, and, and...
- hermitsings 5y agoAny side effects? Lmao
- dukeofdoom 5y agoIt's not approved for women, is there something harmful to them in it?
- The_rationalist 5y agoPDE 5 inhibitors are beneficial for women too (although at lower dose), we just live in retrograde countries.
- Markoff 5y agoAs others said it's most likely different lifestyle and having sex than the viagra itself. If they wanna prove it's thanks to viagra they should find people who don't have sex, take viagra and have lower risk of developing Alzheimers.
- cjbenedikt 5y agoThis may work just as well: https://www.webmd.com/vitamins-and-supplements/l-citrulline-uses-and-risks https://www.webmd.com/vitamins-and-supplements/l-citrulline-...