Alzheimer's starts with a sticky protein called 'amyloid beta.' It will bind to itself and form 'amyloid plaques.' If you have enough amyloid plaques accumulated in your brain, it will reach a tipping point at some stage that causes neurofibrillary tangles, neuroinflammation, cell death, and other symptoms we classically know as Alzheimer's. Before that tipping point, you're symptom-free. After the tipping point, the glitches in memory formation and retrieval are different.

How Alzheimer's start

People think that memory is supposed to be perfect. However, our brains are not designed to remember everything. People over the age of 50 often think all kinds of forgetting mean they have Alzheimer's. They're always forgetting names, and if they don't write down what they have to do later, they won't remember to do it. However, this is normal for all people.

Forgetfulness is normal

Every time you learn something new, you build new synapses, neural connections, and a 'cognitive reserve.' If someone with Alzheimer's built a lot of redundant connections,  they can dance around those roadblocks and still get to the memory they need.  So, learning new things gives a way to build an Alzheimer-resistant brain.

Learning something new

Alzheimer's starts in your hippocampus, the place responsible for forming new memories. So, the very first symptoms of Alzheimer's will be not remembering what someone said a few minutes ago, repeating yourself over and over because you don't remember what you just said, not remembering what happened last week, even if it was meaningful. Things you would normally remember from last week won't get consolidated.

Alzheimer symptoms

It will invade your frontal lobe, so you'll have problems with problem-solving and decision-making. It will invade parts of your brain that have to do with where things are in space, so you might get lost in your neighbourhood. It will invade the parts of your brain that have to do with language so that you will have trouble to find the right words more and more. The disease will then move on to your limbic system and cause changes in emotion and personality.

Alzheimer's doesn't just stay in your hippocampus

The accumulation of amyloid plaques takes 15 to 20 years and can be influenced by how we live. Things that influence the amyloid plaque levels.<ol><li>Sleep. While you sleep, the glial cells in your brain clear away all the metabolic debris and amyloid beta accumulated in your brain while you were awake.</li><li>Diet. A Mediterranean diet can reduce your risk of Alzheimer's by almost half.</li><li>Exercise. A brisk walk for 30 minutes, four to five times a week, is enough to decrease your amyloid plaque levels.</li><li>Chronic stress will increase your risk of developing Alzheimer's.</li><li>Learning something new.</li></ol>

The good news

Only 2% of Alzheimer’s is 100% genetic. The rest is up to your daily habits. Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/c/bigthink Up Next ► 4 ways to hack your memory https://youtu.be/SCsztDMGP7o People want a perfect memory. They wish that they can remember everything that they want to remember. But it doesn't work like that. Most people over the age of 50 think that forgetting someone's name or forgetting why they went into the kitchen is a sign of Alzheimer's. It isn't. Most of our forgetfulness is perfectly normal. If you are worried about developing Alzheimer's or another form of dementia, some simple lifestyle modifications can help prevent it: getting enough sleep, exercising, eating a balanced diet, and managing stress. Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/videos/cognitive-decline/ 00:00 The truth about memory & forgetting 01:12 Alzheimer's cause & symptoms 04:21 You need sleep 05:13 Eat a healthy diet 05:45 Exercise, even a little bit 06:15 Reduce stress levels 07:15 Always learn new things 08:39 The good news ... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Lisa Genova: Lisa Genova is the New York Times bestselling author of the novels Still Alice, Left Neglected, Love Anthony, Inside the O’Briens, and Every Note Played. Still Alice was adapted into an Oscar-winning film starring Julianne Moore, Alec Baldwin, and Kristen Stewart. Lisa graduated valedictorian from Bates College with a degree in biopsychology and holds a PhD in neuroscience from Harvard University. She travels worldwide speaking about the neurological diseases she writes about and has appeared on The Dr. Oz Show, Today, PBS NewsHour, CNN, and NPR. Her TED talk, “What You Can Do to Prevent Alzheimer’s,” has been viewed more than five million times. The New York Times bestseller REMEMBER is her first work of nonfiction. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Read more of our stories on cognitive decline: Your personality is linked to risk of dementia and cognitive decline ► https://bigthink.com/neuropsych/personality-mental-health/ Is sleeping longer than 6.5 hours a night associated with cognitive decline? ► https://bigthink.com/health/sleep-cognitive-decline/ Risk factors that determine whether you’re more or less likely to develop cognitive decline ► https://bigthink.com/neuropsych/risk-factors-cognitive-decline/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Big Think | Smarter Faster™ ► Big Think The leading source of expert-driven, educational content. With thousands of videos, featuring experts ranging from Bill Clinton to Bill Nye, Big Think helps you get smarter, faster by exploring the big ideas and core skills that define knowledge in the 21st century. ► Big Think+ Make your business smarter, faster: https://bigthink.com/plus/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Want more Big Think? ► Daily editorial features: https://bigthink.com/popular/ ► Get the best of Big Think right to your inbox: https://bigthink.com/st/newsletter ► Facebook: https://bigth.ink/facebook ► Instagram: https://bigth.ink/Instagram ► Twitter: https://bigth.ink/twitter

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Only 2% of Alzheimer’s is 100% genetic. The rest is up to your daily habits.

Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/c/bigthink 
Up Next ► 4 ways to hack your memory https://youtu.be/SCsztDMGP7o

People want a perfect memory. They wish that they can remember everything that they want to remember. But it doesn't work like that.

Most people over the age of 50 think that forgetting someone's name or forgetting why they went into the kitchen is a sign of Alzheimer's. It isn't. Most of our forgetfulness is perfectly normal.

If you are worried about developing Alzheimer's or another form of dementia, some simple lifestyle modifications can help prevent it: getting enough sleep, exercising, eating a balanced diet, and managing stress.

Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/videos/cognitive-decline/

00:00 The truth about memory & forgetting
01:12 Alzheimer's cause & symptoms
04:21 You need sleep
05:13 Eat a healthy diet
05:45 Exercise, even a little bit
06:15 Reduce stress levels
07:15 Always learn new things
08:39 The good news ...

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

About Lisa Genova:
Lisa Genova is the New York Times bestselling author of the novels Still Alice, Left Neglected, Love Anthony, Inside the O’Briens, and Every Note Played. Still Alice was adapted into an Oscar-winning film starring Julianne Moore, Alec Baldwin, and Kristen Stewart. Lisa graduated valedictorian from Bates College with a degree in biopsychology and holds a PhD in neuroscience from Harvard University. She travels worldwide speaking about the neurological diseases she writes about and has appeared on The Dr. Oz Show, Today, PBS NewsHour, CNN, and NPR. Her TED talk, “What You Can Do to Prevent Alzheimer’s,” has been viewed more than five million times. The New York Times bestseller REMEMBER is her first work of nonfiction.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Read more of our stories on cognitive decline: 
Your personality is linked to risk of dementia and cognitive decline
 ► https://bigthink.com/neuropsych/personality-mental-health/ 
Is sleeping longer than 6.5 hours a night associated with cognitive decline?
 ► https://bigthink.com/health/sleep-cognitive-decline/ 
Risk factors that determine whether you’re more or less likely to develop cognitive decline
 ► https://bigthink.com/neuropsych/risk-factors-cognitive-decline/ 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

About Big Think | Smarter Faster™
► Big Think 
The leading source of expert-driven, educational content. With thousands of videos, featuring experts ranging from Bill Clinton to Bill Nye, Big Think helps you get smarter, faster by exploring the big ideas and core skills that define knowledge in the 21st century. 
► Big Think+
Make your business smarter, faster: https://bigthink.com/plus/

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Want more Big Think?
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► Get the best of Big Think right to your inbox: https://bigthink.com/st/newsletter 
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