Unlike most topics which are covered here, I was hesitant to discuss the subject of vaccines because they have become so controversial. However, the October 2023 AARP Bulletin reported on an interesting study about the relationship between vaccines and dementia. It may or may not affect your decision to stay up-to-date with your routine vaccinations, but it may help some people make a thoughtful decision.
The core discovery from Paul E Schulz, an M.D. and Professor of Neurology, as well as the Director of the Neurocognitive Disorders Center at the McGovern Medical School at the University of Texas Health Center in Houston, said "There is the potential fringe benefit of vaccination, which is reducing the risk of Alzheimer's."
Fascinating, to say the least!
Of course, this does not mean that everyone who gets vaccinated for the flu and other diseases will never get dementia. It also does not mean that everyone who decides against being vaccinated will definitely develop dementia. It only means that getting regular vaccinations for common illnesses like the flu, Covid and Shingles will improve your odds of avoiding dementia.
Researchers have long observed that our behaviors during our adult lives play a significant part in determining whether or not we will have dementia in later years. Getting our vaccines may be just one more factor we need to consider.
What are the Facts About Vaccines and Dementia Risk?
Researchers such as Schulze from the University of Texas, as well as other researchers around the world, have made the following observations:
1. People who get vaccinated for the flu and other infectious diseases are less likely to get dementia. They speculate that it might be because, when you get sick from the flu and other infections, we become more likely to get dementia. They aren't certain, but they have observed that there seems to be a relationship between vaccines and dementia which indicates that vaccines appear to offer a substantial protection to the brain.
2. When they compared two groups of 935,887 patients each, in the U.S, researchers learned that those who had at least one flu vaccine over a four year period were 40% LESS likely to develop Alzheimer's, compared to people who were not vaccinated. The more vaccinations the patients had received, the better off they were. It does appear that vaccines are causing people to be protected against some types of dementia.
3. The flu vaccine was not the only vaccination which seemed to protect against dementia. When elderly people received the Shingles vaccine in Wales, the group who were vaccinated had about a 20% lower dementia risk over a seven year period compared to those who were not vaccinated against Shingles.
4. When Schulze and other researchers at the University of Texas studied the effects of a variety of vaccines, including those for shingles, pneumococcal pneumonia, and the Tdap vaccine for tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis (whooping cough), they discovered that those who were vaccinated against these diseases also had a lower rate of dementia.
5. Virologist Robert T. Schooley, an M.D. and infectious disease specialist at the University of California in San Diego, also noticed that people who have chronic inflammation from diseases such as HIV show signs of faster cognitive decline. This indicates that diseases which seem unrelated to Alzheimer's may still play a factor in developing dementia.
6. It seems that using vaccines to avoid a wide variety of diseases can play a significant role in avoiding dementia.
What Else Can You Do to Reduce Your Dementia Risk?
Researchers at the University of California in Irvine, the Cleveland Clinic, as well as others, have also discovered additional ways to avoid or postpone dementia. Sometimes they are called the Six Pillars of Brain Health. These include:
1. Eat a healthy diet with a "plant-slant." Good examples are the Mediterranean Diet and the MIND Diet.
2. Get regular exercise, at least 150 minutes a week, to increase the blood flow to your brain.
3. Exercise your brain with activities such as reading books and working puzzles in order to slow down cognitive decline.
4. Get at least seven hours of sleep each night to help your brain "cleanse" itself and remove the toxins that build up during the day.
5. Have regular physical exams and follow your doctor's instructions in order to stay as healthy as possible. In particular, you want to do whatever you can to avoid strokes, heart disease and similar problems which can have a devastating effect on your brain. Since Covid-19 has been shown to increase your risk of a stroke or heart attack in the following months, getting the Covid-19 vaccine is another way in which vaccinations could have a protective effect on your brain and lower your dementia risk.
6. Socialize, socialize, socialize. We need human connections, stimulating conversations, and a sense of being a part of a community in order to keep our brains operating at their best.
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