Explained: Impact Of Alzheimer's Disease On The Overall Nervous System

Brain is one of the most vital organs of the human body that controls your thought, memory, emotion, touch, vision, breathing, temperature, hunger, and every other process regulating the body. Over the past few years, the rate of neurological problems is on a constant rise among people across different age groups. Among these, Alzheimer¡¯s disease is now slowly rising in people above the age of 55.

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Alzheimer¡¯s is a progressive condition that disrupts the proper functioning of the brain. A healthy human brain contains over 10 billion of neurons that are responsible for transmitting important information through chemical and electrical signals. In case of Alzheimer¡¯s disease, this signal is disrupted among the neurons which leads to loss of function. Over a period, the brain cells eventually start dying and the patient starts having difficulty in performing the basic tasks.

Progression of Alzheimer¡¯s disease

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In a normal human brain, the brain cells typically shrink to some degree after a certain age which can affect memory. However, in case of Alzheimer¡¯s disease, the damage is widespread where several neurons completely stop working and lose connection with other neurons. It slowly destroys all connections in parts of the brain involved in memory, including the entorhinal cortex and hippocampus.

Stages of Alzheimer's disease

In the later stages, the disease affects areas in the cerebral cortex responsible for language, reasoning, and social behaviour, limiting the activities of the patient. In this condition, the patient starts losing the ability to live and function independently, leading to other neurological problems like depression. The progression of Alzheimer¡¯s disease can be broadly divided into 7 stages.

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In the first two stages, it is difficult to tell whether a person is suffering from the disease. Alzheimer¡¯s function as a silent killer that does not show any symptoms in the initial stage unless the patient is clinically diagnosed. As the disease progresses, the patient starts showing mild changes in their behaviour. In most cases, these mild changes are often ignored as it is common for a person to stammer occasionally or forget things.

From the third and fourth stages, the disease starts to escalate, and the patient starts showing more prominent signs of the disease. The episodes of memory loss become more frequent and often people suffering from Alzheimer¡¯s disease experience escalated episodes of memory loss that gets worse with time. The disease makes them forget about their daily activities and even hampers their language.

From the fifth stage onwards, the patients even start to forget things about themselves and experience other neurological conditions like difficulty in speech and movement. Mood swings, distrust in others, irritability, agitation, and delusion become common traits that hamper the overall well-being of the patient.

Impact on the nervous system and other organs

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As Alzheimer¡¯s disease is a progressive condition and causes the brain cells to die, there is a direct impact on the lifestyle and behavioural pattern of a person. There are several research that show the link of the disease with cardiovascular ailments and even chronic inflammation. Due to this fatal condition, there is a release of harmful chemicals inside the body that triggers chronic inflammation, causing further damage to the neurons.

Even in the case of heart problems, the amount of proper blood supply to the brain gets limited, which causes vascular problems in the brain and heart. Apart from that, patients may also suffer from poorly controlled type-2 diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, and obesity due to the change in lifestyle. There is multiple research that have shown the impact of this dangerous disease on the sleep cycle.

Preventive measures

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Although it is impossible to evade the risk of this life-threatening condition, there are certain ways to reduce the risk of this condition. These include:

Regular exercise and managing a healthy BMI (Body Mass Index)

Following a healthy diet with low- fat food

Proper sleep and stress management

Quit smoking and limited consumption of alcohol

Management of high blood pressure

Routine check-up for potential signs of the disease.

About the author: Dr. Satwant Singh Sachdeva is a Senior Consultant Neurology, Manipal Hospital, Patiala. All views/ opinions expressed in the articel are of the author.

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