What exactly is dementia?
Dementia is a general term for loss of brain function and memory. Dementia is usually caused by damage to or loss of nerve cells. One of the most common forms of dementia is Alzheimer's Disease. Alzheimer's Disease is caused by a plaque build up inside of the brain which causes the nerves to be damaged. Dementia gets more common as people grow older (normally starts around 85 years), but it is not a normal part of the aging process. Many people live past their 90s and further without showing any signs of memory loss or brain damage.
Different types of dementia
There are many different types of dementia, those include: Alzheimer's, frontotemporal, lewy body, and vascular dementia.
- Alzheimer's disease is the most common and the most known form of dementia. Alzheimer's is caused by unusual changes in the brain including abnormal buildups of proteins.
- Frontotemporal is a rare form of dementia that usually occurs in people under the age of 60. This is caused when the protein builds up even more than in Alzheimer's patients.
- Lewy body dementia is very similar to0 Alzheimer's, but the location of the build up is different. The proteins for lewy body dementia is inside the alpha-synuclein.
- Vascular dementia is is form of dementia that is caused by conditions that damaged the blood vessels inside the brain, or it is caused by something interrupting the flow of blood and oxygen to the brain.
Our Sources
We made sure to only use scholarly articles, official government websites, and peer reviewed works.