[쉬운 신경질환사전] High blood pressure, diabetes… Chronic diseases cause Alzheimer’s?

[쉬운 신경질환사전]is a series of articles designed by neurologist Hanseung Lee (Herb Neurology Clinic) and Hidak on the topic of neurological diseases in everyday life. Common but vague symptoms such as ‘eyelid tremors’, ‘dizziness’, ‘numbness of hands and feet’, and ‘various headaches’ are explained in an easy-to-understand manner for the general public.

Alzheimer’s disease has a number of causative factors. Genetic factors, unfortunately, cannot be controlled and controlled, but there are internal environmental factors that can prevent Alzheimer’s disease if managed in advance. These are chronic diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity.

cardiovascular disease

Recently, various studies in the medical community have been proving that all human organs and tissues affect each other. Thanks to this, research on the effects of each organ on each other is being actively carried out, breaking away from the existing reductionist point of view of dealing with each organ individually. The heart is the center of those studies.

When heart function declines due to angina or myocardial abnormalities, blood flow to the brain decreases. This adversely affects the brain’s energy metabolism and accelerates the formation of beta-amyloid or tau protein in brain cells, increasing the incidence of Alzheimer’s disease.

High blood pressure is also a problem. High blood pressure has two effects on the development of Alzheimer’s disease. First, if high blood pressure becomes chronic, the inner diameter of peripheral blood vessels gradually decreases, causing insufficient micro blood flow, increasing the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Second, high blood pressure affects the cerebrospinal fluid, which increases the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. It is recently known that the pulse wave of the heart helps the smooth flow of cerebrospinal fluid. However, when high blood pressure prevents pulse waves from helping the cerebrospinal fluid flow, brain waste builds up and increases the likelihood of eventually leading to Alzheimer’s disease. So it’s really important to keep your blood pressure under normal control.

obesity and diabetes

Obesity means that there is more fat tissue in the body than necessary. The problem is that by supplying additional blood flow to this adipose tissue, it may cause insufficient blood flow to the brain. It also activates immune cells such as microglia in the central nervous system, which can cause more nervous system inflammation than necessary. In the case of obesity, insulin action is lowered, and sugar is not smoothly supplied into the cells. Neurons with already high metabolic rate are easily deprived of energy due to this. This increases the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.

If hypertension caused by diabetes is left unattended, oxidative stress in brain cells increases and mitochondrial function decreases. In this case, the accumulation of beta-amyloid within the cells is accelerated, which in turn increases the likelihood of developing Alzheimer’s.

These internal environmental factors are manageable. Therefore, good control through diet and exercise can lower the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.

Help = Hidak Consulting Doctor Hanseung Lee (Neurologist at Herb Neurology Clinic)

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