Megan Cuerden
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia in the UK, meaning, it causes a progressive decline in the functioning of multiple areas of the brain causing a direct impact on a person’s way of thinking, feeling, behaving and general overall functioning.
The most common association linked to Alzheimer’s is memory loss, and this is commonly the first symptom seen. This can present itself as forgetting the name of a place, a friend or even getting lost in a familiar place. As the disease progresses, the symptoms worsen and one will develop new symptoms such as issues with speech, mobility, changes in personality and even hallucinations.
There are numerous types of dementia and whilst they can all show the same symptoms, they have differences in what symptoms they most commonly present with. For example, Lewy Body Dementia (LBD) often presents with hallucinations and Parkinson’s-like tremors, whilst Frontotemporal Dementia most commonly presents with significant personality changes.
Typically, Alzheimer’s is seen in people over the age of 65, and the risk of developing it increases with age. However, approximately 1 in 20 of those with Alzheimer’s disease are under 65 years old, and this is deemed early onset Alzheimer’s disease. Whilst the precise cause of Alzheimer’s has not been discovered, we do know of particular risk factors that can contribute to one’s risk of developing the disease. These risk factors include: smoking, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, diabetes.
Simple conservative ways to help reduce your risk is making positive lifestyle changes, stop smoking, following a healthy diet full of fruit and veg, and keeping both your body and mind active.
Whilst the precise cause of Alzheimer’s has not been discovered, we do know of particular risk factors that can contribute to one’s risk of developing the disease.
But these changes are pretty non-specific, and is advice that you’ve probably heard from your doctor countless times; they are habits that improve your overall health, rather than lowering your risk of Alzheimer’s. With Alzheimer’s being a ‘disease of the elderly’ is there any reason to worry now when we are likely decades away from being affected? And is it really preventable?
Well, one study identified ten specific risk factors that increased the risk of developing Alzheimer’s, and of these ten, Stress, Depression and BMI were identified as three risk factors.
Stress, it goes without saying, is something every student can associate with university, coursework, financial worries, not to mention moving away from home are all clear ‘stressors’ that get to us at one point or another. This ties pretty closely with depression; one study found that upon entry to university, 32% of first-year university students reported moderate to severe anxiety symptoms. And by March of the first year, these rates increased to 37%. Another study identified those particular changes with going to university – financial worries, moving from home, exam stress – as clear determinants in causing or increasing the risk of developing mental health problems.
Stress, it goes without saying, is something every student can associate with university, coursework, financial worries, not to mention moving away from home are all clear ‘stressors’…
Yet, on the flipside, having a higher level of education is a protective factor against dementia. Having a higher level of education seems to increase your brain mass, and dementia can cause you to lose a significant amount of brain mass. So simply: the bigger the brain, the less effect dementia will have in the long-run!
So where does that leave students?
Overall, there seems to be countless research showing that higher education is a staunch protective factor against developing dementia. And whilst risk factors associated with going on to higher education are associated with developing Alzheimer’s, these are risks that can be managed. Trying (for the most part) to maintain a healthy lifestyle is good for the long and short term, plus there are countless providers of support, both within university and outside of it; waiting to be utilised. Help is out there, you only need to ask. And skipping that post-Ocean Maccies might just work out in the long run.
Megan Cuerden
Featured image courtesy of Bret Kavanaugh via Unsplash. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.
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