“When a person cannot hear or hears poorly, his brain shrinks.”

Can dementia be prevented?

Some factors are modifiable; They are what make people more inclined. And if we reduce and eliminate these risk factors, we can prevent or delay the onset of dementia.

What he?

You may be surprised to learn that we believe hearing loss is the most important. The same goes for education and smoking. All three are changeable.

Can you explain the connection between hearing loss and Alzheimer’s disease?

Hearing is one of the main ways we stimulate our brain. The brain is like a muscle that, when stimulated, becomes stronger. For example, now we are talking, and you are thinking about what I am saying, and I myself am thinking about what you are observing. In this way, without making too much effort, we stimulate our mind. But when a person does not hear or hears poorly, his brain shrinks.. The temporal lobe, where memory is located, is reduced. And therefore they have less stable brains. which increases your chances of developing dementia. We know it is important to maintain a resilient brain and its reserves; and this is achieved through hearing, which allows you to interact with people, think and be part of society. There is growing evidence that using hearing aids reduces this risk. Moreover, it has been found that a person with hearing problems tends to become depressed and isolated.

In my group, we followed people 15 years before developing dementia and saw that people with hearing loss were at much higher risk of developing dementia. But if they use headphones, it decreases.

What about the other two?

Education also increases cognitive reserve, and cognitive activity reduces the likelihood of developing dementia. Those people who have not had an education, but who work in jobs throughout their lives. informative Stimulants may offset this risk, but not as much as people with high levels of education and cognitively stimulating jobs, who have a much lower risk.

In dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, plaques and tangles form in the brain. But we know that if you have greater cognitive reserve, symptoms may appear later. Good hearing, education and exercise maintain cognitive reserve, so even if these plaques form in the brain, there may be no symptoms. And people want to be asymptomatic. They don’t care that much about what’s going on in their brain.

A recent study published in the journal BMJ Global Health warned that millions of young people are at potential risk of hearing loss due to the use of headphones or exposure to noise levels above recommended levels. Does this mean there will be an increase in dementia in the future?

This is possible, although it depends on the volume at which you listen to the music. Many people, especially young people, use headphones every day, which can increase the risk of hearing loss and therefore increase the risk of dementia.

There is more and more evidence about the impact of hearing aids on our health. What do you think?

Has existed for many years brand about its use. Many people are hesitant to use hearing aids but avoid wearing glasses. Perhaps something will change, after all, headphones are changing to headphones. While the former isolate you from public life, the latter prefer interaction with other people. And, as I said, hearing is associated with the development of dementia.

Is high noise levels causing an increase in dementia cases in cities?

Indeed if. If you live in a very noisy environment that harms your hearing, you are at risk of dementia and isolation. Therefore, we should think about our environment.

There is more and more research linking dementia to the heart.

This is not my area of ​​research, but we know that smoking, high blood pressure and high cholesterol increase the risk of heart disease, so it is likely that if you reduce these and other factors that reduce the risk of heart disease, you will also reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease diseases, risk of dementia.

In a short period of time, three new drugs have emerged that could open up a new scenario for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease; However, they caused a lot of controversy. What’s your opinion?

I think that it is great progress as these are the first drugs to reverse the disease.. It is true that some of them have many side effects and it has been observed that people’s brains shrink from them. We also don’t know what the long-term effect is. Of course, these are not the final answer, but they are the beginning of an answer, the beginning of a vision of something that matters.

What do you think about the pushback these drugs have caused among parts of the medical community?

Patients must be able to make a decision. If it is administered and the patient says: “I feel better, and while getting worse could kill me, it could also slow the progression.” This is a risk that many individuals and families are willing to take.

But the patient should always be informed in detail about the positive and negative effects; and in this case the risk is much greater than with most other drugs. But I can understand why someone might accept it. One of my colleagues, a professor, has Alzheimer’s disease, and I talked to him and his wife about it. His response was: “We have a good quality of life now, and if we choose treatment, it could kill us; So why take it? However, other people have a different opinion: “Well, if it kills me, then it will kill me. But what I don’t want is for my capabilities to gradually decline.

You also work with caregivers and have developed a special program for them. Can you give any advice on how to deal with this situation?

It is important to remember that most caregivers are trying to solve a problem; but dementia has no solution. So they become depressed and anxious because they are caring for someone they love and see their condition deteriorate. And often a sick person is not even grateful, because he does not realize it. This is why it is important to take care of the mental state of caregivers, otherwise they will not be able to move forward. We are working on strategies that can help them that do not result in the person being accused of having dementia. We have a START (STrAtegies for RelaTives) program for family caregivers that has demonstrated long-lasting benefits on symptoms of depression and anxiety, improved quality of life, and has been proven to lead to financial savings when treating these symptoms. diseases. . So I think these coping strategies really matter because people try so hard.