Alzheimer's Disease Archive

Studies suggest that the world is facing two different dementia trends. One is that dementia rates are falling steadily in the United States and Europe. The other is that the number of dementia cases globally is rising, and will likely triple in the next 30 years, mostly due to population increases. People can try to reduce their dementia risk by adopting a healthy lifestyle that includes lots of exercise, a healthy diet, at least seven hours of sleep per night, limited alcohol consumption, socializing, improved balance, stress management, smoking cessation, and control of underlying health conditions.

A 2022 Harvard study suggests that an Epstein-Barr virus infection, the most common cause of mononucleosis, may trigger multiple sclerosis (MS) in some people.

Research has found associations between social media use and negative mental health effects in both youth and adults. These ill effects may reflect the particular ways people use social media. People may have a healthier online experience if they focus on interacting with others, rather than just scrolling through posts. Some additional strategies that can help improve the experience are avoiding posts from unpleasant people, discussing contentious subjects in person rather than online, and using social media to enhance real-life relationships.

A 2020 study found that people defined as lonely had a higher risk of dementia than those who were not considered lonely. Loneliness also was associated with smaller brain sizes and poorer executive function (the ability to plan, focus attention, and remember instructions).

Hair loss is a common problem for many men and women, but what does it mean to have alopecia? Alopecia areata occurs when the body's immune system attacks hair follicles, resulting in hair loss. AA can affect the scalp, eyebrows, eyelashes, or anywhere hair grows on the body.

If you wind up in an emergency department due to an illness or accident what should you know and what can you expect? It's frustrating to have to wait for care, and also frustrating to have to explain your situation multiple times to different people, but there are reasons why it all happens.

Many conditions of the gastrointestinal tract are easy to diagnose using standard testing. But some such diseases can impact the GI tract without a clear test finding. Disorders of gut-brain interaction are so called because they involve impaired communication between the gut and brain via the nervous system.

The vast majority of diseases do not have a single cause; rather, multiple factors combine to cause a disease. Growing evidence suggests that several viruses may be triggers of multiple sclerosis, and a long-term study found evidence that an infection with a common virus can be an important contributing factor in MS.

When thinking about progressive brain disorders that cause dementia, you'd probably think of memory problems. But sometimes language problems, also known as aphasia, are the first symptom. There are different variants of aphasia depending on what aspect of language is disrupted, and they are caused by different diseases.

Rashes are a common side effect of many medications, and while they can be annoying, they typically run their course over a week or two. But not all drug rashes are mild — and some can even be deadly. How can you tell a serious rash from one that is just a nuisance?