General practitioner and geriatrician, Doctor of Medical Sciences, professor and expert of the Dementia.net social project Andrei Ilnitsky told socialbites.ca that chronic stress in middle age leads to the development of dementia in old age.
“If stress levels are low, the hormone cortisol produced by the adrenal glands helps reduce inflammatory reactions and increases blood pressure and anxiety levels. Excessive or regular stress causes a chronic increase in cortisol levels, which negatively affects the brain,” he said.
This chronic increase in cortisol levels in middle age leads to the development of dementia in old age.
“Moreover, dementia can be both neurodegenerative and vascular. In the first case, cortisol causes inflammation in the brain tissue. It is known that promising new drugs for the treatment of neurodegenerative dementia are aimed precisely at reducing the level of immune inflammation. In the case of vascular dementia, cortisol and increased stress cause increased blood pressure, atherosclerosis, all of which affect the blood vessels in the brain,” the doctor noted.
According to Ilnitsky, as older people age, there is an increase in cortisol production, which means people become more sensitive to stress.
“Increased cortisol production during extreme stress leads to atrophy in brain structures that provide cognitive abilities, especially the hippocampus,” the doctor said.
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Source: Gazeta
Barbara Dickson is a seasoned writer for “Social Bites”. She keeps readers informed on the latest news and trends, providing in-depth coverage and analysis on a variety of topics.