Be optimistic - depression leads to Alzheimer's disease
Scientists can not yet say exactly which processes at the cellular level lead to depression, but they say with certainty: the brain of a depressed person even in a quiescent state is subject to overload. This is due primarily to the fact that the signals between the subcortical and limbic areas of the brain during depression go a much longer way than in a normal, cheerful state. Their intensity also changes.
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The new discovery explains the earlier statements by many American scientists that frequent depressions are the cause of the development of senile dementia, often turning into Alzheimer's syndrome and other unpleasant diseases.
According to data from two independent studies, during a depression, the limbic and subcortical areas of the brain begin to exchange chaotic signals passing through the intermediate areas. And this, in turn, leads to the deterioration of neural networks. As you know, neurons in the human brain interact with each other through synapses, tiny structures that connect nerve cells and transmit signals. Back in the 20th century, it was proved that the state of synapses is extremely adversely affected by stress, but the effect of depression on the nervous system was studied not long ago.
Two independent researchers - Andrew Lutcher from the University of California and Shukyao Yao from Central South University of China (Hunan Province) - confirmed the existence of serious differences in the work of the brain in depressed people, compared with healthy ones.
Andrew Lutcher and his colleagues discovered that the subcortical and limbic areas of the brain, which are usually busy processing our emotions, when depressed begin to communicate intensively among themselves by streams of neural signals. The researchers note that these signals affect the brain like white noise, and only intensify the depression, not allowing the person to think about how to stop feeling sad and start moving on.
The Chinese scientist Shuyao Yao in his study emphasizes that with depression, the most difficult situations arise when the patient is prone to long-term reflections. This creates in his brain the act of continuously reproducing negative thoughts, which, in addition to overloading neural networks, disrupt the activity of the hippocampus associated with the storage of long-term memory. And this, in turn, may already lead to more serious neurological disorders, as well as to complete or partial memory loss.
Practical value of research
Long-term depressions can cause serious neurological and mental disorders, so either don’t get depressed at all, or look for a way out and an interesting activity during the first signs of it. This will help protect neural networks and avoid memory problems in old age.
')
The new discovery explains the earlier statements by many American scientists that frequent depressions are the cause of the development of senile dementia, often turning into Alzheimer's syndrome and other unpleasant diseases.
According to data from two independent studies, during a depression, the limbic and subcortical areas of the brain begin to exchange chaotic signals passing through the intermediate areas. And this, in turn, leads to the deterioration of neural networks. As you know, neurons in the human brain interact with each other through synapses, tiny structures that connect nerve cells and transmit signals. Back in the 20th century, it was proved that the state of synapses is extremely adversely affected by stress, but the effect of depression on the nervous system was studied not long ago.
Two independent researchers - Andrew Lutcher from the University of California and Shukyao Yao from Central South University of China (Hunan Province) - confirmed the existence of serious differences in the work of the brain in depressed people, compared with healthy ones.
Andrew Lutcher and his colleagues discovered that the subcortical and limbic areas of the brain, which are usually busy processing our emotions, when depressed begin to communicate intensively among themselves by streams of neural signals. The researchers note that these signals affect the brain like white noise, and only intensify the depression, not allowing the person to think about how to stop feeling sad and start moving on.
The Chinese scientist Shuyao Yao in his study emphasizes that with depression, the most difficult situations arise when the patient is prone to long-term reflections. This creates in his brain the act of continuously reproducing negative thoughts, which, in addition to overloading neural networks, disrupt the activity of the hippocampus associated with the storage of long-term memory. And this, in turn, may already lead to more serious neurological disorders, as well as to complete or partial memory loss.
Practical value of research
Long-term depressions can cause serious neurological and mental disorders, so either don’t get depressed at all, or look for a way out and an interesting activity during the first signs of it. This will help protect neural networks and avoid memory problems in old age.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/150200/
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