every 65 seconds a brain develops alzheimers disease
2/3 of those are female brains
why
we dont really know for sure
heres what we know and what we think could be reasons why
if a women has the apoe 4 gene like i have they are at a greater risk for developing late onset alzheimers than men are
the apoe 4 gene is a risk factor for late onset alzheimers
in studies of prealzheimers patients those are the ones that have no symptoms yet but have positive scans for the bad amyloid and the tau proteins it is noted that women have more amyloid and tau proteins in their brain
women live longer than men so that statistically makes them more likely to develop alzheimers
men tend to die younger with heart disease
women make up 60% of the caregivers
another risk factor for alzheimers disease for caregivers may be due to the increased stress lack of sleep and not taking care of their own health not exercising not getting social interactions
the jury is out if its due to the lack of estrogen during perimenopause and menopause
some think its the lack of sleep and stress during this time that may be contributing
hormone replacement has not been shown to make a difference
more studies on the menopausal effect are being done
it may be due to social more than physical reasons
generally women live more stressful lives get less sleep get less exercise may live in lower social economic situations being pregnant and being post partum less educational opportunities..........
im sure you women readers can add more to this list
all these are known modifiable lifetime risk factors for alzheimers disease
when you add all these up in a womens lifetime the result is that they have an increased rate of cognitive decline than men
it is probably mostly social reasons why there is this discrepancy in the rates between men and women
the treatment for this discrepancy is altering social factors which we as a society do a poor job of correcting
so there may not be a good prescription for women to fix this
maybe the fact that women are becoming more involved in politics and the work force and overall getting more opportunities may be the best treatment to slow this disease down
i hope so
the organicgreen doctor
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