Recent studies show that poverty in human relationships is linked to the incidence of neurodegenerative diseases. We talk about it in the Corriere Salute on newsstands for free with the Corriere on Thursday 16 February
We are publishing a preview of part of an article in the new Corriere Salute. You can read the full text on the free issue on newsstands Thursday 16 February or in Pdf on the Digital Edition of Corriere della Sera
There is increasingly clear evidence that a condition of social isolation can favor the development of cognitive disorders and also, in the elderly, forms of dementia, such as Alzheimer’s disease. The positive aspect of this observation is that a good social support network and the continuous exchange of emotions and ideas with other people can protect against this type of disorder. Indeed, from an evolutionary point of view, the feeling of isolation is a sort of warning issued by the organism itself. It wants to alert, signal that it is necessary to take action to try to improve one’s chances of survival and reproductive success.
In an editorial written in the journal Neurology, which accompanies some research articles on the topic, Lawrence Whalley, of the Institute of Applied Health Sciences of the University of Aberdeen (Scotland) states that these new surveys provide a complex integrative analysis of epidemiological data, of neuroimaging and molecular genetics that show how social isolation is related to the incidence of dementia. They also add strong evidence to what could be the possible mechanisms, showing an association between social isolation, reduction of cerebral gray matter volume, the presence of unexpressed genes already known to be linked to Alzheimer’s disease.
In fact, one of the strands of current research on dementia and cognitive disorders aims precisely at trying to understand how much genetic causes weigh against environmental ones, including social isolation. For example, studies carried out on twins have made it possible to hypothesize that the influence of the environment affects Alzheimer’s disease by about 20 percent, but in reality disentangling the mutual influences of the environment and genetics appears to be a more complex task than it seems. thought some time ago. In fact, today it is known that there are many factors that can play a role in the development of dementia, some of a genetic type, others concerning neurodevelopment processes, therefore, for example, the presence of any serious adversities in childhood, others physical, such as ‘aging, other occupational, other social, just like a state of isolation.
You can continue reading the article in Corriere Salute on newsstands for free on Thursday 16 February or in PDF on the Digital Edition of Corriere della Sera.
February 14, 2023 (change February 14, 2023 | 6:45 pm)
© Time.News