Literature Review

The key points that are repeated throughout all of my sources are what alzheimer’s is and

what it’s about. They mention how “Scientists don’t yet fully understand what causes

Alzheimer’s disease in most people” (National Institute on Aging, 2018).the side effects of

Alzheimers. There are many listed like OCD, refusing to shower, severe memory loss, and rapid

mood swings. Other information that was repeated constantly in my sources was whether or not

the disease was genetic or not. They have done studies like “researchers at the University of

Kansas followed fifty-three healthy men and women aged sixty and over for two years. Eleven of

them had a mother with Alzheiemer’s disease, ten had a father with the disease and thirty-two

had no family history. The groups were given brain scans and memory tests throughout the

study” (Elizabeth Agnvall, 2011).

Some ideas where there seems to be disagreements within my sources would be the main

factor, whether or not Alzheimer’s is genetic. Researchers have done their studies on families to

see how many people get it through the generation and some families would pass as a positive

form, while others pass as a negative on the disease being genetic. While Robert Wilson in his

article “Loneliness and Risk of ALzheimer Disease” mentioned that loneliness was one of the

major factors that caused Alzheimers and mentioned ways to prevent it rather than Joe Herbert in

his article “Depression Is a Risk for Alzheiemer’s: We Need to Know Why.” proved that

depression was the risk. Herbert mentioned that you can visit a therapist at a young age to

prevent that. Even though both loneliness and depression are very similar they are also very

different because not everyone who suffers with loneliness gets depression, but most people do.

The articles when you read both you can see that they argue that Depression has a bigger effect
on this disease because it is already affecting on how your brain thinks and works, which is

exactly what happens when you develop Alzheimer’s

Any misconceptions that I saw surrounding this topic would be that Alzheimer’s is

genetic. It is seen to be a side effect for this disease, but everyone thinks you can only get it from

genetics. Developing this disease from genetics is actually the lowest cause to develop this

disease because they have only found very few cases where it was proven. Another

misconception is that people develop Alzheimer’s out of nowhere which is not true because there

is always a reasoning behind it. The biggest misconception would be that Alzheimer’s disease

and dementia are not the same thing. That is not true they are actually the same thing, but

dementia is the stage before full Alzheimer’s. A last one I found would be that it doesn’t just

affect old people. They’re right in a way, but when I did my research it showed that it affects

those sixty-five and older. It is very rare for someone younger to develop it and if so it is a sign

of early on-set Alzheimer’s. I found this info off of Lindsay Dodgson in her article “These 15

Common Misconceptions Will Make You Rethink Dementia And Alzheimer’s Disease” which is

a very interesting factual article.

Works Cited
 “Alzheimer Disease - Genetics Home Reference - NIH.” U.S. National Library of

Medicine, National Institutes of Health, ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/alzheimer-disease.

“Hearing Loss And Alzheimer Prevention.” Beltone Hearing Aids - Award Winning

Solutions For Your Hearing Loss, 2012, www.beltone.com/da/why-beltone/press-

room/hearing-loss-alzheimers.

Herbert, Joe. “Depression Is a Risk for Alzheimer's: We Need to Know Why.”

Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 25 Apr. 2016,

www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/hormones-and-the-brain/201604/depression-is-risk-

alzheimer-s-we-need-know-why.

Newell , Shirley. “Alzheimer's and Cardiovascular Disease: Aegis Living.”

Wwwaegislivingcom The Link between Alzheimers and Cardiovascular Disease

Comments, 2019, www.aegisliving.com/resource-center/the-link-between-alzheimers-

and-cardiovascular-disease/.

“Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).” Alzeheimer's Association , 2019,

www.alz.org/media/Documents/alzheimers-dementia-traumatic-brain-injury-TBI-ts.pdf.

Wilson, Robert S. “Loneliness and Risk of Alzheimer Disease.” Archives of General

Psychiatry, American Medical Association, 1 Feb. 2007,

jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/482179..

“What Is Alzheimer's?” Alzheimer's Disease and Dementia, www.alz.org/alzheimers-

dementia/what-is-alzheimers.