Women and dementia

[ArabellaScott]

A fascinating and carefully written article here, on how dementia affects women, written by a geriatrician and internal medicine physician. The author considers both biological sex and socialised gender roles (and is clear as possible on the difference between these things).

'though there are no differences in intellectual capacity, for so many of my patients, from childhood onwards, their social role has been defined by gender, from educational opportunities to work, childbearing and the authority within their own household. These things and many more all influence the development of dementia and the way that dementia is diagnosed.'

So many fascinating things in here from:

'Oestrogen helps women prepare for motherhood: during pregnancy, women’s brains become more plastic and more able to learn'

to:

'Some women do experience a decline in memory and processing speed during the time of menopause, but these changes resolve once the hormonal changes have settled'

As well as thoughts on cultural influences and context and how these impact on diagnosis and progression.

I think every woman should read it.

aeon.co/essays/how-the-life-paths-of-men-and-women-affect-the-diagnosis-of-dementia

Arabella Lisa Mosconi seems to be about the quantifiable science (so far on the podcast) and Kate Gregorevic seems to say it's more nuanced ie the life experienced through their gender roles by women probably has an effect but we need more research. Am I right? If we extrapolate from that are, for example, S Asian women (like my mum) more likely to have dementia as they get older because they have had a whole life of traditional gender roles? And then we get to the question of poverty (and within that childhood poverty and adult poverty) and how much that has an affect on brain function in the elderly?

It's fascinating and, definitely needs more research. Mosconi says that research on women has begun to happen but we obviously have a long way to go if we are aiming for truly personalised healthcare.

*effect

I've not listened to the podcast, yet, WarOnWomen. I have a bit of an aversion to podcasts ... have ordered the book. Doesn't make for a fast conversation, I suppose!

'Gender' can be a really useful concept, finding it especially annoying that it's become totally subsumed into this vague, blurry catch-all category
…
Kate Gregorevic seems to say it's more nuanced ie the life experienced through their gender roles by women

I'd also expect there to be an intersection (no surprise there) with class and social status alongside the amount of control one has in various life domains - much in line with Sir Michael Marmot's Whitehall Studies.

Self-perceived health status and symptoms were worse in subjects in lower status jobs. There were clear employment grade differences in health-risk behaviours including smoking, diet, and exercise, in economic circumstances, in possible effects of early-life environment as reflected by height, in social circumstances at work (eg, monotonous work characterised by low control and low satisfaction), and in social supports. Healthy behaviours should be encouraged across the whole of society; more attention should be paid to the social environments, job design, and the consequences of income inequality. [Next ref.]

Abstract is useful: www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PII0140-6736(91)93068-K/fulltext

Literally a PP presentation: www.ucl.ac.uk/epidemiology-health-care/sites/epidemiology-health-care/files/marmot-history.pdf

I'm ready to declare my suspicion that a fair number of women probably have relatively little control or satisfaction associated with their occupational and care roles. It's plausible that these are linked with poorer health behaviours and accelerated rates of deterioration of some vital functions. (Women spend more years in poor health than men even accounting for differences in longevity. [Apologies, too tired to find the longitudinal study data right now.])

Such an interesting and important article. Thanks Arabella. Too tired to take it all in after a week of struggling to get back to normal workwise.

Thanks OP, this looks really interesting.

Thanks, Embarrassing, looks really interesting.

persistent. I think half of the battle is getting over being Tired all the Fucking Time.

Indeed Arabella. I'm hoping that what you quoted earlier has had a major impact on me:
"all our usual routines/habits that we usually save mental bandwidth by carrying out nearly unconsciously (they reckoned about 40% of daily life) were now having to be rethought and so another drain on working memory"

Banking on the fact that this can be 'repaired' swiftly. I even found myself having to really concentrate on driving the other day - the car just sits outside most days.

I tried to find that article! I think actually it might have been the FT. But ... I can't remember.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/apr/29/lockdown-distorting-memories-daily-landmarks-brains-false-memories

For people who have Netflix: The Mind, Explained has a 20 minute episode on memory. (Not sure if it's still streaming as I watched it a while ago.).

I read up about Kirtan Kriya meditation a while back. It's been recommended as a way to help prevent Alzheimer's. Just between 12 to 20 minutes a day. There's an article here:

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-a-list-yoga-technique-that-helps-to-ward-off-alzheimers-8bt5xftrq (sorry no share token)

and more info here:

alzheimersprevention.org/research/kirtan-kriya-yoga-exercise/

Many women don't take care of their own health needs. It seems so simple. Eat healthily, exercise, sleep, meditate, connect with people and you will lead a long happy, healthy life. Except life kind of gets in the way.

@EmbarrassingAdmissions have distinct memories of some items but as they undergo cyber rot or disappear from public records for GDPR or because someone has actively removed them

I’m so glad someone else has noticed this. I found that all news reports except one had been removed about an incident that happened to someone I know. It was politically sensitive. I find it quite disturbing. Your point about the internet not being the accurate archive we might think it should be is a good one.

We are outsourcing our memory to the internet, too, so it can become a real problem if it is deleted.

www.smu.edu/cox/Learning-Culture/Research-Papers/20191001_Fisher

[quote ArabellaScott]We are outsourcing our memory to the internet, too, so it can become a real problem if it is deleted.

www.smu.edu/cox/Learning-Culture/Research-Papers/20191001_Fisher[/quote]
That article is disturbingly on-point.

I see the paper recently been published:

Fisher M, Smiley AH, Grillo TLH. Information without knowledge: the effects of Internet search on learning. Memory. 2021 Feb 8:1-13. doi: 10.1080/09658211.2021.1882501. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33557708.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33557708/

Full pdf: cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/campuspress.yale.edu/dist/c/259/files/2021/02/Fisher-Information-without-knowledge-the-effects-of-Internet-search-on-learning-copy.pdf

I do fret about the many consequences. An image that comes to mind is the Book People walking around reciting books to keep them alive in Fahrenheit 451

I read something a while ago about differences in memory in groups of non-literate indigenous people who depended on oral tradition.

"For this invention will produce forgetfulness in the minds of those who learn to use it, because they will not practice their memory. Their trust in writing, produced by external characters which are no part of themselves, will discourage the use of their own memory within them. You have invented an elixir not of memory, but of reminding; and you offer your pupils the appearance of wisdom, not true wisdom, for they will read many things without instruction and will therefore seem [275b] to know many things, when they are for the most part ignorant and hard to get along with, since they are not wise, but only appear wise."

Socrates.

@ArabellaScott

I've not listened to the podcast, yet, WarOnWomen. I have a bit of an aversion to podcasts ... have ordered the book. Doesn't make for a fast conversation, I suppose!

It is well worth a listen (despite Dr Rupi saying things like "I want to double-click on that ).

If not, Lisa Mosconi has done a TedTalk:

www.ted.com/talks/lisa_mosconi_how_menopause_affects_the_brain?language=en

Her research has shown how important oestrogen (or oestradiol) is on brain function. It's really vital for energy production in the brain. If oestrogen is high, your brain energy is high. She said that she is just validating what women have been saying "foggy brain" re: menopause. It's real and it can be proven. After menopause, women's brains age quite rapidly.

Also interesting is that the stress response of flight or fight is for men, from prehistoric times. Women produce oxytocin when we are stressed (I think) and the best way to deal with stress for women is to talk it out with a supportive friend.

Thank you, that essay is very interesting!

I have found something typed out, War!

ideas.ted.com/heres-what-women-should-eat-to-maintain-a-healthy-brain/

Looks very sensible but I am skimming the bits where I'm to avoid eating crap.

She does point out that the time at which it would have the most beneficial protective effect is often the time when women are often most stretched due to gender roles. (Though adds that little / often is key rather than long and heavy).

I can attest to this! I take hope from the PP who said she got a second wind at 60. Can't wait!

My turning 60 has somewhat coincided with covid during which (fortunately ) my job is unaffected. And we're walking more, I can do more Pilates as it's zoom sessions and DH has taken responsibility for shopping - he's very good at knowing he can't resist crap and therefore doesn't buy it. Of necessity in the first phase when we couldn't get supermarket slots we were eating more from scratch, making our own yogurt and whole grain oaty bread....our diet now looks quite a lot like those recommendations.