Stress Causes Dementia

A team of experts from the University of Gothenburg managed to discover an incredible correlation between the amount of stress people are subjected to, and their chances of developing various forms of dementia.

The investigation was based on results obtained from studying about 1,415 women, all of which were tracked for a record-breaking 35 years.

The Swedish team says that the discovery is absolutely amazing, and add that it finally proved a theory that has been circulating for quite some time now.

The amount of stress people are subjected to in middle life appears to play a critical role in determining how likely their brains are of developing dementia, including Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease.

Researchers based their work on a single sample of women, whom they first analyzed back in 1968. At the time, the test subjects were aged between 38 and 60

A second round of testing was done in 1974, 1980, 1992 and 2000. In three instances (1968, 1974 and 1980), the researchers included questions about psychological stress.

“Stress was defined as a sense of irritation, tension, nervousness, anxiety, fear or sleeping problems lasting a month or more due to work, health, family or other problems,” says Lena Johansson.

The expert, who participated in the new research, is a scientist at the UG Sahlgrenska Academy Department of Psychiatry and Neurochemistry (DPN) Neuropsychiatric Epidemiology Unit.

“This is the first study to show that stress in middle age can lead to dementia in old age, and confirms similar findings from studies of animals,” the expert adds.

“Stress has previously been shown to increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases such as stroke, heart attack and hypertension,” she adds.

Details of the new work appear in the latest issue of the highly esteemed scientific journal Brain, AlphaGalileo reports.

“This study could result in a better understanding of the risk factors for dementia, but our results need to be confirmed by other studies, and further research is needed in the area,” Johansson reveals.

“Most of those who said that they were stressed did not develop dementia, so it’s not currently possible to advise people to be less stressed or warn about the dangers of high stress levels due to an increased risk of developing dementia,” she concludes.