A leading dementia doctor has revealed the four subtle signs of Alzheimer’s disease that can occur decades before diagnosis.
Dr. Daniel Amen, who is based in California and runs a number of clinics in the US, says the crippling disease “actually starts in the brain, decades before you get any symptoms.”
But the first – and most common – early warning sign, the doctor says, is that your memory is getting worse.
He explains: ‘Eighty percent of people who say their memory is worse than it was ten years ago have an 80 percent chance that it will get worse.’
The National Institute of Aging says that memory problems associated with the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease “include a decline in non-memory aspects of cognition, such as finding the right word, difficulty understanding visual images and spatial relationships, and impaired reasoning or judgment.”
It adds: ‘As the disease progresses, symptoms become more severe and include more confusion and behavioral changes.’
Dr. Amen’s second early alarm bell is “poor judgment and impulsiveness.”
He says this is because the frontal lobes – the largest lobes of the brain located directly behind the forehead and responsible for behavior and emotions – ‘decrease in activity’ as a result of the disease, which is ‘a bit like your brain going offline’ .
A leading dementia doctor has revealed the four subtle signs of Alzheimer’s disease that struck decades earlier
Only about 1 in 50 people with Alzheimer’s disease notice that their frontal lobes are affected early on.
When this happens, the condition is known as ‘frontal variant Alzheimer’s disease’ (fvAD).
The third unnerving symptom Dr. Amen talks about is developing a shorter attention span and becoming more easily distracted.
He says of this characteristic: ‘[It is] not like ADHD, which you’ve had all your life, but it seems to be getting faster and faster.’
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Addressing the question of why this happens, Ruth Drew, director of client and information services for the Alzheimer’s Association, explains: ‘Alzheimer’s disease attacks the brain, usually starting in the hippocampus, where new memory and learning are stored, so anything that disrupts that certainly makes it harder for someone to stick to a train of thought.
‘It’s different for every person. Especially in the middle phase [of the disease]the focus will definitely be affected.”
On the way to his fourth indicator, Dr. Amen warns viewers in a TikTok to beware of being “humble.”
The Alzheimer’s Society says it is difficult to know what causes depression in dementia.
It adds: ‘For many people, the challenges of living with dementia can lead to feelings of deep sadness or hopelessness.
‘In addition, the diseases that cause dementia can damage parts of the brain involved in emotions and behavior.’
After outlining four key warning signs, Dr. Amen discusses some things that can increase your chances of developing the disease.
Dr. Daniel Amen, based in California, runs a number of specialty clinics in the US
He reveals: ‘Depression doubles the risk of Alzheimer’s disease in women and quadruples the risk in men.
‘Being overweight or obese [increases the risk]. As your weight increases, the size and function of your brain decreases.
‘That’s why I’m slim. I don’t want to do something on purpose that will damage my brain.’
He also points out a few more conditions that can lead to poor brain health, including erectile dysfunction – ‘because if you have blood flow problems anywhere, that means they are everywhere’ – chronic insomnia and sleep apnea.
According to the Alzheimer’s Association, approximately seven million Americans are currently living with Alzheimer’s disease. This number is expected to increase to almost thirteen million by 2050, partly due to the aging of the population.
About one in five women develops the disease, and one in ten men.
In 2022, Marvel actor Chris Hemsworth, 40, discovered he was likely to develop the disease after undergoing genetic testing.
He has become a public figure in the fight against dementia.
He openly shares details about his health and wellness routines and encourages others to attend regular doctor visits.
Despite how common the disease is, not much is known about what causes dementia or how it develops, but ongoing scientific research hopes to make a breakthrough.